Twitter, a sellers-only marketplace?

After a little more than three weeks as a registered Twitter user I want to do some reflections about the Twitter concept and about using it for online marketing. It seems everybody is talking about twitter as a fantastic opportunity for online marketers. My strongest impression may be somewhat controversial but here we go:

- Twitter is a big crocodile marketplace

Now, what do I mean by "crocodile marketplace"? To begin with, have a look at a crocodile, what are the main characteristics? Well, one big mouth and no ears! In the twitter case I mean that most twitterers are talking their hats off promoting their own product/service, but very few are actually listening. And the crocodile effect is further accelerated by the fact that most twitterers use some kind of automatic tweeting, so they are not present in person when they are tweeting. I am also quite certain there are virtual accounts impersonating as real people on Twitter. One category is quite easily recognizable: a bunch of people registered only with their first name, they have same or similar jobs, same or similar interests and their tweets are similar or identical. Ah yes, the profile photo is of a young attractive woman, some of the photos even have copyright statements on them.

Twitter is marketed as a "social network" so why do I call it a marketplace? Let us have a look at what is going on there. Without having done any scientific research I state that the majority of tweets are promotional, they contain a link to a website. And the most common target is a website offering an automatic way to earn loads of money on twitter without work. Very few tweets are "non-commercial".

Sometimes the promotional efforts become almost comical! For example, someone tweeting repeatedly about having gained 1500 followers in only one week! Using the so-and-so system on autopilot. Funny thing is; when looking at their personal profile you find that they have only a couple of hundred followers in total. Or how about those endless tweets about earning 4-digit weekly income, making thousands of dollars while sleeping etc. It would be very interesting to know how many people are actually making good money from Twitter!

Keep this in mind when you want to do business online and use Twitter as a marketing channel. All of your followers are not the "hot leads" one can imagine, instead several of your followers consider yourself one of their "hot leads".

Anyway, Twitter is an interesting phenomena, and it is possible to have lots of fun meeting new people there. And it is a good market channel for your offer, just keep in mind that the "hit rate" may be lower than you expect!

Good Luck with your online business, and keep twittering! See you there :) Tweet-tweet!