Although behavioral norms on Twitter and social networking are in their infancy, there still are some clear trends that are emerging. One of these I have been defining as the golden rule of social networking:
“social networking means:
you have to be social”
What this simply describes is that you have to be part of the conversation, and not just an observer or doing all the talking. Until about 6 months ago on Twitter the vast majority of users simply wanted their voice to be heard, and didn’t give much credence to how often they heard others voices, or even engaged in a conversation. Although they didn’t openly discuss it, we can infer that their goal was simply that to brag about, “look how many people are following me”. The example of this is the person/company is how they have 30 people that they are following, yet they have some 10,000+ who follow them. They often simply push links, press release updates or just want to hear themselves talk. Boring. Thank goodness this era for the most part has ended, and we are now in a trend of people understanding that conversation takes two or more people. In fact I believe that the trend will continue to evolve and it will become the norm to follow more people than follow you. Imagine that, a trend encouraging conversation and listening to more people. Sing Kum-Bi-Ya with me now.
Then yesterday I say a report on Twitter that said “”Apple brands top “social media index”". As I looked into it, the summary was from a report by vitrue.com on ‘The Vitrue 100 - Top Social Brands of 2008′
My first response was that this has got to be a joke. Why? Apple isn’t part of the conversation. Yes they make some great products, and arguably the very best tools that enable many of us to be sociably mobile. But simply put:
Apple is not part of the conversation,
heck Apple doesn’t even listen to Steve Jobs
That’s right they follow no one, nada, 0. They simply fail in social interaction. How do I further know this? When I look up the analytics on @apple @appleinc you wind the following from twitterholic and twitter-friends
and
Apple simply doesn’t engage in conversation. Everyone talks about Apple and all of Apple’s products, but Apple doesn’t talk to others.
So I looked and asked everywhere on Twitter to find out if an official Apple support account exists. However at the time of this story I can’t find one, if it’s there, it’s hidden. A hidden account is basically the same as a not having a support account at all. A pretty sad act for the company that creates many of the tools used, and the beloved iPhone. Yes I know how the Apple lovers are saying that their Apple product doesn’t break like a PC, Apples are plug and play, Apples are… etc, and because of Apples quality, Apple doesn’t need customer support, etc.
However my commentary isn’t about Apples products, but about how in today’s world customer support by a major company IS expected on Twitter, and how a company like Apple that makes the vast majority of tools used for social networking, doesn’t do social networking itself.
My recommendation to Apple, get your accounts up to speed before you get even remotely close to being Motrined. Word and conversation analytics can’t do the same job as having a real person interfacing with your customers. Apple you need to engage in a conversation with your customers. …its this or hire back Guy Kawasaki as your CEO since he gets social media.
It’s not that hard to engage and converse with your customers: Step 1, talk to us, and preferably without the twittering press releases.
Tags: apple, appleinc, Twitter
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