Caroline, Good questions and concerns. The only way I can explain is to show why some people make their posts on Twitter private. They don’t want brands to see their information and to contact them.

But in my experience so far we’ve received a lot of positive feedback by people we have interacted with. They seem quite impressed that the brand/business is hip with it and using their tool (twitter in this case) to communicate with them. Perhaps after that they will use different words so as to not show up on our radar screen but if they do oh well.

People may stop tweeting/updating facebook because they feel a brand is watching them. But we haven’t gotten there yet.

Thanks for the great thoughts! Keep em coming!

Thank you for all the recent insights you’ve been sharing with us regarding Twitter and Facebook. As we discussed today, I find this form of communication (Twitter) largely overwhelming. Mainly because I am not as familiar with it as some and feel like I will continue to slip further behind if I don’t start embracing this more. I found myself not being able to keep up with people and always feel the pressure to but something relevant as my tweet. Something with a link, and preferably something educational and intelligent. You can imagine that Twitter starts to feel more like homework than a trusty and efficient way to communicate.

I will start to dabble in this more and try searching for threads that interest me and chime in when appropriate (sometimes using links). Hopefully through practice this will become more second nature and MUCH more streamlined.

As for the topics covered above…I think the idea of directing messages at users based on their specific Twitter or FB conversations is a great idea. Plus a more streamlined way to target. It would be the ultimate media targeting; by talking to people in the moment. When the brand, widget or concern is top-of-mind. Believe me I know the importance of tracking down the audience.

But I can’t help to think it’s a little “big brother-ish”. Would people think…Who is starting to spy on my conversation? Not just another user but an entire corporation.

Also, would people start to treat these types of messages as SPAM or white noise? How would we keep the balance of these forms of communication to a target audience and keep people from ignoring our efforts? Maybe it’s too soon to think through this, until that ultimate search capability for both FB and Twitter comes into play.

I definitely feel I have a lot to learn here, but here is my “two cents”.

Would the tweets read:
“When you’re finished, make sure you use the only brand that won’t scratch” or
“We’re here for ya! and if the public restroom you are in didn’t choose us, go without”
“If you make it to Meijer in 5 minutes we’ll give you a lifetime supply of TP”
“Click here to display an iPhone frendly UPC for 10% off Charmin TP. Reminder: All Employees must wash their hands before returning to work”