Why Corporate Types Don’t Tweet

Twitter

Recently, I was once again baptized into the world of social media via the Web 2.0 show in New York City. I cannot say this was the first time I was brought into the fold – and almost harangued – that I need to be make it a top priority to get connected to the ultra connected on Linked In, Facebook, Twitter, FourSquare, Xanga, Ning, and Plaxo – to name just a few. And like all times before, I nodded and believed and agreed with it all, and I began ferociously tweeting from the conference, hoping to shorten my “21 days to a new habit” to just two. But as the conference ended and my plane departed from La Guardia headed toward Denver, I watched my mindset shift from the free thinking lifestyle of the conference back to that of the daily grind of a corporate marketer. And with that, I knew that soon my Tweet stream was about to again be as dry as the Santa Ana River Bed.

“But WHYYYY?” all the Twitterazzi cry? “How can you not see how important this is? Do you not want to be a thought leader? A visionary? Don’t you want to connect with like minded people? Don’t you know the market is already talking about you and you need to be part of the conversation???”

As I ponder the many reasons, I want to say for the record, I am not alone in this conundrum. In fact, a recent study by Weber Shandwick recently showed that while 73% of Fortune 100 companies have a Twitter account, fewer than 25% of them Tweet very much at all. And when they do Tweet, it’s pretty dry stuff. Surprised? Well then you must have never read a corporate press release.

I’ve taken my own little poll and asked a number of colleagues about their Twitter habits. As a result, I’ve come up with three main reasons corporate types don’t Tweet.

Reason #1 – Big Corporations are not Yet Fully Ready to Let the Lunatics Run the Asylum.
I know… it sounds ludicrous to you, especially if you are into social media. But organizations are understandably hesitant to let folks put in writing things that may not be fully baked. I mean, what if one of the customer service reps at Charmin Tweeted in his off time that he thought the Safeway brand was just as good? And is it ok for him to Tweet about his job one day then brag later about his after hour drinking excursions? Yes we all need to be responsible for our “personal brand” but even the thought of this loose arrangement strikes fear in the minds of not only execs but employees there is not a clear policy in place. And policies take time.

Reason #2 – We Really Have no Time
You can say it’s a matter of priorities and I will listen. But the truth is most of us in corporate America spend 75% of our days in meetings and the other 25% just catching up from those meetings. And when you are in a meeting – we all need to be focused on the work at hand, not taking a mental break to check our Twitter stream for interesting tidbits to write about! And yet we all are smart enough to know giving it to the intern doesn’t work if you want to be a thought leader and not just a promoter of junk news. As a result, Twitter chat suffers.

Reason #3 – Our Days Are Filled With Work We can’t Talk About “Socially”
This is probably the biggest reason of all that corporate types do not Tweet. At work, we deal with clients and issues that are undeniably off-limits for sharing in the Twittersphere. Whether we are innovating new products, making strategic marketing decisions, dealing with clients who demand our complete privacy, closing deals or working the internal politics inside our companies, the thoughts and topics surrounding this are to remain inside the corporate walls. And while we often bring outside information in to mix with our internal thoughts, it is rarely a good idea to Tweet about them for fear of just letting on where exactly things may be headed.

In the end, all of this leaves us with not just an obscure policy but nothing to talk about and no time to do it. But since social networking and the Twitter lifestyle shows no sign of slowing down, we do need to shift our thinking a bit. I would argue the first thing is that if you are a non-Twittering corporate type, take a breath and drop the Twitter guilt. It’s ok and you are not alone. Your role does not make Twittering a sound use of your time given the current infrastructure. Don’t force it.

Instead, we need to think about how we can formalize our social media strategy by bringing it deeper into the daily work our companies do. For those of us in marketing, it should be a major part of our strategies for 2010. Don’t give this role to the newbies, yet don’t just try to do it yourself without giving up something else. Instead, develop a more web-centered marketing and media strategy where Twitter and social media can become the domain of some or all of your team members as part of their official role. And if you don’t have a policy, perhaps it’s time for one.

It’s your turn. What is your company doing about corporate Twittering? How do you manage your time as it relates to social media?