Don’t worry, I still believe social media is cool, but check out the perspective in the article: “Automation Killed The Social Media Star” it is stated that, “Chris Brogan (@chrisbrogan) tweeted the following: ‘Social media isnt cool. Human interaction is cool. Just fyi.’ ”
I like the thought process in the article and it just made me think about where automation is important and where it isn’t. I don’t like form email or spam, but those systems are better suited to automation. That and the “auto-generated reply” with unmonitored email address is so common, its become normal.
However, the idea of “social” means that I am interacting with people and I expect that level of interaction. The very fact that using this media I can reach thousands of people is a great thing, but their following is voluntary. From my perspective, if I don’t like the way someone is handling their posts/tweets/etc then I have the power to stop listening and potentially re-transmitting the message to my network. I believe it is a self correcting market that will find a balance based on consumer choice.
However, automation (used responsibly) can be great thing: automatic mining and aggregation of information of what my fans/followers/etc are interested in so I can tailor my message to my audience. Automation is useful in helping us make sense of large piles of data that exist. I might use their trends to figure out what message I should develop to enhance my brand, develop more trust, increase following, etc. Even down to the demographics where I wouldn’t use the word “dude” to sell arthritis medicine or use the modern vernacular of today’s youth much like the awkward parent trying to sound “cool” to their children.
I wonder when we will see Tony Hawk pedaling Celebrex after a day of skateboarding with the grandkids… “putting the flip back in my inverted flip kick, dudes! “
I think automation in social media is interesting. A lot of the big Twitters are bots like CNN. I actually use a bot for @govloop where I highlight the content on Govloop plus add in some personal touches and discussions. I don’t think there is one right way and depending on your goals you should adjust accordingly. To me, one of the big value of Twitter is to let people know about all the cool things happening on GovLoop that day. So that piece seems to lean towards a bot. But I’d be interested in hearing what people thought.
The bot that pubs GovLoop blogs on twitter is great — I use it to see whats coming in on the wire all the time and a great example of integrating technologies faster and more efficiently than a person.
The question I would have is if I sent an @ reply or a DM to the GovLoop on twitter, could I expect a reply?
When we see twitter profiles, how do we really know the difference unless its stated somehow in the bio (I didn’t exactly read the govloop bio section when I subscribed on twitter, only b/c I was a govloop member and knew the context… maybe I should go look 😉 )