Tweet My Mind: 1984

Tweet My Mind: 1984

Chirping bird memories…

English is a dynamic and organic language. Six years ago if you questioned any thirteen year old about the definition of the word 'tweet' you would be reliably informed that this was the sound that a bird made (this information having first been obtained from a nursery book at age 5). Today, however, you are more likely to be educated that this is the term for a 140 letter post originating from the social website Twitter, which, in keeping with the original avian meaning, has a little blue bird as its logo. Think Facebook or Myspace without the frills or having to accept friend requests (people just choose to follow you and their posts appear in your newsfeed). With over a billion tweets being trilled out around the globe a week Twitter has become a major social network voice.

Big Brother was watching you…

The idea of two-way, simultaneous information sharing via the screen preceded social networks by half a century. In 1949, decades before computers became mainstream, George Orwell published Nineteen Eighty-Four, a novel that examined the potential of totalitarianism on society. It was Orwell, and not DSTv, that introduced the idea of Big Brother, the system of control personified by the nation's leader and implemented through two way television like devices that simultaneously feed you propaganda and monitored your every activity; 'Big Brother was watching you'.

Unlike the Big Brother system, social media systems feed you everyone’s' thought patterns, not just the party philosophy. It is for this reason that access to social sites is tightly controlled in some countries. But in some instances Orwell was not wrong.

Orwell included the idea of the 'Two Minute Hate', a daily period of negative expression against the system's enemies. A model citizen was to scream abuse into their television set in response to a series of graphic, hate provoking images or face the ire and censure of the thought police. Compare this to the recent abuse tweeted to Natasha Giggs (the sister-in-law to footballer Ryan who had an affair with him prior to her marriage) following the paparazzi revelation that they had a public argument. People, fans of Ryan I guess, who have never met her spammed rants in her direction. Admittedly with only 140 symbols to use they were very short rants. Or Fuimaono-Sapolu, the Samoan rugby player who was banned from play last week after a rant online against a referee via Twitter. Let us not even talk about Charlie Sheen... Needless to say, hate driven tweets can be powerful, especially if they are about your product.

Power of Social Networking Sites…

Twitter, and other social networks, are in themselves not bad tools (although I can not shake the conspiracy theory driven thought that somewhere, someone is collecting all that information for some nefarious purpose). They can be used wisely as well as negatively to enhance a brand, a business or a personality. Positive tweets that add a degree of value (e.g. advice for solving a problem) are more likely to be re-shared by others. It is common courtesy to follow in turn those who follow you. There are two ways of looking at this reciprocal following as a business-a waste of time or a source of information about potential clients, a lot depends on how willing you are to trawl though a couple of hundred bytes of information a day.

Death by Twitter…

Of course the debate rages as to how many tweets a day are necessary to grow a business before it becomes annoying to your followers? How many times can you stomach 'Buy Crispy Crunch on special, we rock your world' and 'Crispy Crunch funds schools initiative' in your feed before you never want to hear from or see Crispy Crunch again. Three posts seems to be a much touted norm, but the extremes of up to 30 can be found across the net. An interesting point of research if anyone wants to take it up.

Meaty dress by Lady Who?

The important thing to remember about online networks is that your 'followers' and 'friends' are not a substitute for solid relationships built over multiple coffees, dinners and the highs and lows of life. Now if you'll excuse me I need to go find out what Lady Gaga has been up to today.