Funny you mention this – I unfollowed James Tuckerman’s Twitter account because all he was doing was RTing the AnthillOnline tweets, which were just reposts of the blog. I was hoping for more personal perspective from James, not a robot!

BTW: The Facebook Connect link in this comment form doesn’t lead to where Facebook Connect functions should lead…it just goes to the (now defunct) FB group.

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Scott Handsaker Reply:
December 1st, 2009 at 12:41 pm

Well funny you mention that, because I had an identical experience!

I zapped James a message at the time and asked what the GO was, and he admitted he was only going to be tweeting Anthill, so not much point in following both. So I unfollowed James and stayed with Anthill.

At the least, he was upfront about his intentions and how he planned to use the service.

To me it is a missed opportunity – I would have followed James to stay in touch with how he is building the business, what plans he has in place, what struggles he is going through, etc etc.

But then again, everyone uses Twitter differently!

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Tiara Reply:
December 1st, 2009 at 12:42 pm

James might do well to read your article on his site

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James Tuckerman Reply:
December 1st, 2009 at 1:21 pm

Never would I miss a post by Scott Handsaker.

Twitter, to me, is an ongoing experiment. I love the apps, I love the tools, I love reading, I love watching… but I haven’t really got into the habit of sharing daily thoughts and experiences.

I created @jamestuckerman earlier this year to get my head around Twitter and many people followed. I have tried to use it as a personal channel. Some weeks I succeed at doing that but most weeks I don’t.

My account is not an example of a corporate account that also includes observations about my wife’s paella (like @SourceBottle). It’s a personal account that also includes a feed from the business that I work for.

So, I think it’s unfair to describe someone’s personal account as a FAIL (as just occured: http://twitter.com/tiaramerchgirl/status/6219231823).

Perhaps if it was created with an agenda – if I was Joe Hockey or Guy Kawaski and had created it to push my views or self-promote – I’d accept your criticism (as you might direct at a poorly conceived marketing campaign).

But to be a FAIL, it needs to fail at achieving its purpose. What is it’s purpose? I watch, I read, I listen.

So far, in that sense, it’s been an outstanding success.

Hi Scott thanks for your great article.

I have always wondered about this exact issue!

I ‘m only new to Twitter. Following various seminars, research on the internet and networking with fellow colleagues, I chose to combine both. (Although I am very mindful of my limits with personal tweats.)

I think business is about building relationships and trust with people, that may or may not lead to business. Our business revolves heavily around working closely with our clients and communicating with them. People are able to easily view in detail the services you offer on your company website, which is likely to be very similar to hundreds of other service providers in my industry. But who is behind this business, who will I be dealing with what are their personal characteristics.

Through my brief experience a majority of new business comes from people who know or have met you and the connections you have made. Once I have met with them it’s that relationship that creates the trust and “getting to know you” that assists with new clients.

This is what I see Twitter offering, a forum, or “space” as its seems to be referred to, for people I have never met to get to know me as a person and gain an awareness of what my company offers. If the person requires or is aware of a friend that needs an Owners Corporation Manager, I like to think our connection will prompt them to provide our details.

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Scott Handsaker Reply:
December 1st, 2009 at 12:51 pm

Michael – I like your take on why you have combined personal and business within the one account. Sounds like you thought about it and decided there were strategic benefits, so nice one.

I think it depends really on the type of business you have, and like most things there is no hard and fast rule as to what you should do. If it works for you, go for it!

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Michael Reply:
December 1st, 2009 at 1:02 pm

Thanks Scott.

PS: if a future poll reflects a new position/trend, shoot me an email would you! haha

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I am absolutely filthy I didn’t get a mention in this article.
It’s a disgrace ! I keep my business tweets @haul and my personal & charity [ did i mention #GusCalendar for LortSmith.com ]life in the @GustheBoxer stream.

Scott are you Dogist ?

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Scott Handsaker Reply:
December 1st, 2009 at 1:23 pm

Gus – an incredible oversight sir. A thousand apologies.

Anyway…some of my best friends are dogs….

Consider yourself followed!

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Difficult this one and something I struggled with at first. I currently tweet under my business name BENCHPR and started at first to just use it for business ‘posting media releases, sharing journalist moves etc but soon found that twitter was about the conversation and to do this involved sharing a bit of my personality, as the owner of the business. I also found that the ‘business accounts’ that have been set up generally have a lot less followers than the individuals that run them, so decided to include both business/personal.
It probably depends on the size of your business and the resources available to update both accounts on a regular basis.
I probably average a couple of tweets per day and don’t annoy followers with too many personal updates.

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Scott Handsaker Reply:
December 1st, 2009 at 3:02 pm

Hi Jocelyn – you make a good point in that many business accounts have fewer followers compared to personal accounts. Case in point, my @eventarc currently has 10 followers, and I think I know them all personally! My own twitter account has over 100.

But then again someone like @threadless has 1.4 million! It depends a little on your product I guess.

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DigiGifts Reply:
December 2nd, 2009 at 9:52 am

Yes I agree, it depends on your product. If your a well know brand or company your likely to get many followers without much effort.

If however you are a smaller business you may struggle to gain new followers if all you talk about is your products. There are plenty of tricks and tips I’m happy to share if anyone is interested. It took me a while to build up my list, but I now get quite a bit of business via twitter, so I’m glad I use it.

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James: Of what point is a Twitter account branded with your name whose only purpose is to duplicate another Twitter account’s post? It’s just noise and spam. If you just wanted to watch, then don’t bother posting! You say that it’s a “personal account” with a feed for your business, your bio is all about you as a person – yet there’s nothing personal about your account at all. At least Seth Godin’s blog Twitter account says “this is Seth’s blog”, not “this is Seth Godin” and then have nothing directly from the guy.

Where’s the interaction? Where’s the actual personal perspective? Where is James Tuckerman’s contribution to the Twitter conversation? At the very least, if it’s just going to be a RT’ing account, you could at least make a note of that in the bio – instead of fooling people like myself into thinking that you’re actually going to say something that’s not yet another botpost.

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James Tuckerman Reply:
December 1st, 2009 at 2:05 pm

I’m sorry to have ‘fooled’ you, Tiara. It was all part of my cunning plan. My devilishly crafted bio (“Anthill Magazine Editor, entrepreneur hunter, business and innovation junkie”) was cunningly deised to suck you in (Yes, you, in particular Tiara) and exploit your time and goodwill.

As I said, I do try. But it’s not always possible to be as informed and erudite (and prolific) as, say, Seth Godin. (I’m extremely flattered to be uttered in the same breath.)

There is an expectation that the normally vocal James Tuckerman (editor-in-chief) ‘should’ be using the platform to share insights. (“I would have followed James to stay in touch with how he is building the business, what plans he has in place, what struggles he is going through, etc etc.”)

But, sadly, I’m not doing that. I failed to meet others’ expectations. For that, I’m sorry. I will try to be part of the conversation more but, as above, there are many ways to use Twitter. Sorry to have disappointed you Tiara.

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Tiara Reply:
December 1st, 2009 at 2:23 pm

…wow. This post left a bitter taste in my mouth. I felt disrespected, as though I was some raving loony who only deserves snark in response. There are ways to disagree without belittling the original opinion.

I’m hoping you didn’t mean any disrespect, that it’s just some crossed signals, but seriously James – not cool.

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James Tuckerman Reply:
December 1st, 2009 at 2:36 pm

Sorry Tiara. I sincerely didn’t mean that. My comment was intended to be light-hearted but maybe I too was feeling a little bit cut by your comments (and that crept in). JT

I combine all of my business and personal accounts on social media and tell all of my clients to do the same. Maybe that’s wrong, it’s easier for me because I’m just as annoying in business as I am personally – for better or worse I am in business who I am in the rest of my life … which often includes being bitey and self-righteous – but also, I hope, adding a lot of value to the people around me.

My personal theory is that I only want to work with people who get it – who get me. If they read my personal stuff and don’t like it, I don’t wanna.

That said, I don’t go silly with the personal stuff. I talk about my life, but I draw the line – I never bitch about people and when I’m angry about stuff I try to avoid posting anything.

I’ll talk about my dog, what I’m doing during the day, going away for the weekend – I’ll talk to and about my family and friends. I swear – but only sometimes …

But I do keep in mind that my clients will be reading everything I write …

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Scott Handsaker Reply:
December 1st, 2009 at 4:10 pm

Well you have over 1,200 followers, so you must be doing something right!

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Leela Cosgrove Reply:
December 2nd, 2009 at 11:18 am

Scott … it’s nowhere near Gary v’s 850,000 – but I’m getting there …

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DigiGifts Reply:
December 2nd, 2009 at 9:48 am

Hey Leela,

I agree, I have found interacting with my lists is a big step forward in the twitter world.

I also avoid getting silly with the personal stuff. Most people don’t care what I had for breakfast, but occasionally if I baked a fancy cake I might mention it with a photo link. My friends and closer followers like this side of my posts.

Again, as many others have highlighted, keeping your account real and ‘human’ seems to make a huge difference.

Those who like what I have to say will continue to follow me and interact, those who don’t stop following. :-S Such is life.

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I love that Bec mixes personal and professional tweets…after all Twitter is about a conversation not just broadcasting sales/product info.

Wouldn’t follow her if all she did was put up plugs for journos.

cheers

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DigiGifts Reply:
December 2nd, 2009 at 9:44 am

Yep, thats exactly what I think too. Twitter is all about the conversation. Sure if you follow a business you are likely to want information about their products and services, but when they talk about other general stuff it shows they are still human.

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I’m siding with separation of the private and personal – it annoys me to read about what people are putting on their toast for breakfast when I am effectively following them for business purposes – but I acknowledge that this is a personal preference.

One of my clients has a GREAT new service that links journalists with PR agencies and in-house PRs: check it out at mediacall.com.au

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Tammy Reply:
December 2nd, 2009 at 11:16 am

I think the problem with the world of everyone knowing everything instantly, is exactly that, its all or nothing.

I have customes that have been with me for 12 years, and they ask how my son is going and whether I achieved any house reno’s during the 38 degree humidity in Brisbane, etc. But I have known them a long time.

For new customers or prospects, I am not sure they want to know, or whether I even want them to know that much about my personal life early in a business relationship.

Even with Facebook, I use it for social and use LinkedIn for business.

That being said, sourcebottles service does seem to have journalists tarketing consumer input into articles, so with that consumer level of interaction, maybe mixing business with personal is not unusual?

As a business owner looking for “businesss” press opportunities, i too have gone with mediacall.com.au, to get connected with Journalists writing business articles.

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Hi, I too have always wondered about this.

Its easy enough to have multiple accounts, one for personal and one for business, but the problem with many dedicated business accounts is that they don’t interact with their followers and eventually lose followers because of it. If like myself you follow various business, groups and individuals on your personal account, you may find yourself doing the same on your business account too, so then which account do you respond from? I guess it depends on the nature of the response. But it can all become too difficult to decide and its sometimes best focusing from one account.

I’ve found over the time using twitter that most people who use twitter like to interact with others and not just be bombarded by advertising messages. Individuals and companies which just post advertising on their products and services get quickly ignored (unless they are a big well known company or brand). For many small business and start-ups solely advertising your products and services just doesn’t work because potential customers are unlikely to follow you if all you talk about is your brand.

As a business owner I have found interacting with other business owners, potential new suppliers, resellers and customers has been very useful for business growth and development. If I didn’t engage with my followers this would not happen. I agree with Michael that business is about building relationships and trust with people, that may or may not lead to business. Our business also revolves heavily around working with our customers and communicating with them. People are able to easily view in detail the products and services offered on our website, which is likely to be very similar to hundreds of other service providers in our industry. But who is behind this business, who will I be dealing with what are their personal characteristics. Knowing this information is what makes customers feel more comfortable with dealing with your business. Engaging with my followers give my business a ‘human’ touch and makes it more personal and shows there is a real person behind it, not just a number.

I guess I now use my account for a number of uses, promoting products and services, talking about great business related articles and communicating with like-minded business owners and new & existing customers.

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Hi Scott, I think you’d really enjoy http://www.mediacall.com.au then. I use both services (Media Call and SourceBottle), but for media opportunities that are relevant for promoting a business, Media Call seems a little more substantial.

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Scott Handsaker Reply:
December 2nd, 2009 at 1:14 pm

Thanks Donna – will check it out!

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