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Two Twitter Skeptics Walk Into a Bar @SXSW

Yesterday in Austin, I was having lunch at the bar at Champions. Mike, a guy sitting next to me, said he was working in the AV department for SXSW. I mentioned it was nice to be talking to someone in person for a change here in Austin. He mentioned that he and his wife recently were discussing “face-to-face” contact and how Twitter/Facebook impedes that. We both mentioned we originally didn’t “get” Facebook or Twitter, but have now been assimilated, he more to Facebook, and I to both Twitter and Facebook.

I apologized for looking at Twitter while talking to him. I was trying to find out where some of the people I follow on Twitter were in Austin, at the same time decrying the trouble I was having meeting people at the conference because people were always on their phone. I had spent a day and a half at conferences where I would rarely get the chance to talk to anyone next to me because they were on their phone. (Disclaimer: okay, I was on my phone, too.)

As we discussed whether Twitter served a great purpose or not, I saw a tweet from a SXSWpresenter, Kristina Halvorson (@halvorson). She said she was in Ballroom A for her presentation, which began in about 45 minutes and she needed a wireless microphone. Um, I thought. I’m sitting right next to an AV guy for the conference. I turned to him and explained what had happened. He didn’t seem to believe me at first. He put his head in his hands and said, “She’s “TWEETING” about that?” It sounded silly to him at first. Then he realized he could actually do something about it.

He got on the phone, called one of his co-workers, and had them go to Ballroom A to assist Kristina. Still in shock, he shook his head and said, “What are the odds that you would get that tweet and would be sitting next to someone who could do something about it?”

As we contemplated that, we conceded there was more to this Twitter thing than we realized. My guess is Kristina used all her options – trying to find someone in the center and sending out an SOS on Twitter. Maybe the Twitter SOS was more of an update for her and she didn’t expect someone to really help her. I don’t know if Kristina got the help Mike sent her way, or if she had already found someone in the convention center to help her. But her tweet could have been the answer to her problem, due to Mike’s dispatching.

What’s the lesson here? That some seemingly innocuous Twitter updates may mean more to others than to you? Sure.

But also: That face-to-face stuff is still important, or else I wouldn’t have met Mike and gotten an actual solution for Kristina.

SXSW rocks! (Twitter’s not so bad, either….)

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Twitter: 1, Pizza (Domino’s): 0

When two Domino’s employees posted an online video this week showing them tampering with food in particularly disgusting ways (and no, I’m not going to link to it – I believe it has been taken down anyway), a company spokesman said they knew people on Twitter were wondering what the company was doing about it.

“We got blindsided by two idiots with a video camera and an awful idea,” said Tim McIntyre, a Domino’s spokesman.

“Even people who’ve been with us as loyal customers for 10, 15, 20 years, people are second-guessing their relationship with Domino’s, and that’s not fair.”

According to McIntyre, “Well, we were doing and saying things, but they weren’t being covered in Twitter.”

Apparently McIntyre didn’t understand how Twitter works. It doesn’t “cover” things. It is, of course, an online community where anyone can post anything and respond to anything – including companies.

McIntyre was told about the existence of the online video on Monday. The video had been viewed more than a million times by Wednesday afternoon.

Wednesday afternoon, Domino’s set up a Twitter account. By Wednesday evening, Domino’s chief executive appeared in a YouTube video.

McIntyre said, “It elevated to a point where just responding isn’t good enough.”

I think McIntyre missed the point. Domino’s was responding early on, but not on YouTube, the site where the video was seen, and not on Twitter, the site where people were asking questions. Granted, two days to produce and post a video is not bad. But the ability to monitor their brand on Twitter and to respond immediately to critics existed before this crisis. If Domino’s had already been on Twitter, they would have gained a couple of extra days of damage control.

I admit I was a Twitter skeptic. I still personally prefer Facebook to comment on people’s posts and to follow threads. I like having the comments listed together as they are on Facebook.

But for companies to get out information on their brands, Twitter is great. The short comments are an ideal venue for people to speak out and for companies to follow the comments.

I’m sure brands who haven’t taken to Twitter yet will be thinking twice now about getting a Twitter account. And for those looking for work, how does “Social Media Specialist” sound?

Footnote: And oh, yeah, as for the two lame-os who thought it was “funny” to cause a PR nightmare for a company in this already beaten-up economy: welcome to the unemployment line.

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