No I am not saying this to add that shock factor or wow factor. I am actually being serious. Is social media dying slowly but surely?

There are around 3 million users on Twitter. 4,272 of them are Internet marketers, 1,652 are social media marketers. Their jobs revolve around, and rely on, social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, MySpace etc. They rely on building trust and conversations around a brand, service or product. What if those conversations were being hindered by Twitter Tools?

Twitterhawk is a new Twitter tool that has been created. Acting almost like Google alerts, Twitterhawk allows you to set up keyword phrases that you would like to be alerted about. So for example if you are a coffee shop and want to receive people’s tweets related to coffee, then Twitterhawk will notify you. Ontop of this, Twitterhawk allows you to create an auto-response to be tweeted about that topic and/or give you a list of potentials that you can choose from. So going back to the example of the coffee shop, if people are talking about wanting to grab a coffee in your vicinity, then you can tweet them saying that you are close by them and that they should drop by. This can just be automatically sent to them, or Twitterhawk will give you a list and you can confirm which ones you would like to respond to (confirm replies). All of this for a tidy 5 cents per tweet sent via TwitterHawk.

Sounds great and harmless doesn’t it? But what happens if you aren’t the only coffee shop around town that’s on TwitterHawk? What if you are a Twitter user and really don’t want 10 tweets telling you were to go for a coffee? What happens if you get tweeted at even the slightest mention of something? For example: I am hungry and want to grab lunch. Will every restaurant around me tweet and suggest their food? What about spammers? Will this scare people away from Twitter?

This can get very scary and overwhelming if everyone jumps on board. The thought of being bombarded with thousands of tweets at the mention of a keyword phrase scares me into thinking social media sites might start to lose the “social” in social media. What happened to good conversations? People on Twitter are already starting to complain about auto-response direct messages, what will their response to this be?  Will social media turn into an auto-response machine?

I don’t think enough thought was put into the potential damage Twitterhawk could have and I don’t think it will encourage new Twitter users and could scare off current Twitter users.

This could very well be the end of Social Media as we know it.

There is no easy way to Social Media. Companies need to realize the value of conversation when it comes to customers, and taking short cuts such as Twitterhawk will not give them any more advantage over their competitors. In fact, I can guarantee in a few months people will be so frustrated with the amount of tweets they will receive because of Twitterhawk that people will actually look negatively upon these companies.
Social media is a tedious and slow process, however, when done properly it can be used as a great advantage!

Mike and I dropped by the Keg on Airport Road/Dixon today in the Toronto area. The parking lot is usually packed by 11.45 but this time, there wasn’t a car to be seen. When we entered the restaurant, it looked like a ghost town. By 12.30 the place had life again as most of the tables seemed to be filled. Still, the usual lineup at the front desk was non existant.

Business must be off by about 50% considering the conversations I had with a few patrons and it basically dove off a cliff in December. There was no warning and no smooth downward decline, like most businesses, it fell off a cliff sometime in December.

I was wondering what they were doing for marketing but when I looked at their website, probably not to much. Still a brochure site with a splash page. I thought I would see if they had a Twitter account but no chance of that.

Meanwhile, companies like Starbucks has 53,000 followers, all taking about…Starbucks. How about this story of a small coffee shop that doubled its business through Twitter.

Now is not the time to turtle or your business will die along with millions of others. Now is the time to stay alive to compete another day. You can’t do that by being oblivious to the new social media marketing techniques.

Embrace change and don’t look back.

Be careful of online spammers in Facebook and Hotmail! Has your Twitter account been suspended? Find out why.

You gotta love Kevin O’Leary. You can catch him during the week on Dragon’s Den or on BNN’s Squeeze Play. Kevin’s delivery can be a little  harsh (did I say a little) at times but nobody asks the tough  questions like Kevin does. You never have to guess what side of the fence he is on. He is the Don Cherry of business television.

On Sunday, Kevin and his co-host, Amanda Lang interviewed Matthew Fraser, co-author of a new book Throwing Sheep in the Boardroom:How Online Social Networking Will Transform Your Life, Work and World. After several minutes discussing the many positive aspects of social networking, Kevin asked the big question, ” How do I make money?”

No matter how you slice it, that is what it is all about, making money. Mr. Fraser went on to point out that major pharmaceutical companies are using the open source method of developing the next generation of products faster and cheaper through social networking, thereby beating their competitors to market with new products the public needs. Still, social networking is a long term project. You need to have the commitment and financial backing to bring you project to fruition.

On the social media side, results can be seen much more quickly. If you are a relatively new company, using Facebook and Twitter to get your message out quickly can make you money and build your brand at the same time.  One example is a new company that gave away a purse per hour. Spreading the word through blogs, social media sites and user generated content they were able to build their brand and develop a customer base early in the game. They also managed build links to their site in the process; more links, better rankings – better rankings, more exposure on the internet.

So when you are looking for a social media plan, make sure to ask Kevin’s question, “How will this make me money?”  Now if we could only get him to dress like Don Cherry……