The point of pointless babble

19th Sep 2009 A passion and truth by Jeremy

Photo by respres

When is pointless babble not really pointless babble? When it’s irreverent banter that cements relationships, raises a smile and builds bonds.

A short-term study into the micro-blogging service Twitter carried out by US market research firm Pear Analytics this month aimed to produce a snapshot of what people do with the service, and dismissed 40 per cent of tweets posted as ‘pointless babble’.

Is that all? I’d probably double that figure. But the connections and bonds that such inanity breeds is not to be taken lightly.

People are just as likely to respond to a time-wasting, thought provoking game as they are to a piece of insightful research, and if that leads to an easier relationship, then so what if it wasn’t an earth-shaking revelation that bonded them?

Here in Team PR, we find that Twitter’s been a launch-pad to a whole host of contacts, who we’ve bonded with over such high jinks as #brumpoptunes – personal favourites: I’m Still Kingstanding, Money’s Too Tight To Shenstone and Bat Out Of Lozells  - rather than through the merits of the day’s news agenda. In this industry, it’s vital to stay up to date and in touch with people, and an inane conversation made up of 140 characters a  time is a perfectly acceptable way of doing that if it makes you smile and respond.

It’s not just about maintaining and generating contacts. One of our clients, Green Room Retail (@G_R_R) reports that Twitter is second only to Google when it comes to generating leads to their website, while within 24 hours of following our advice and posting his first tweet, Birmingham bowel surgeon Tariq Ismail (@Tariq_Ismail) had been contacted by three newspapers, one TV show and two radio stations, all spotting a potential goldmine of news stories.

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter if you’re announcing the biggest phenomenon since the iPhone or eating a ham sandwich; if someone takes the time to respond and interact with you, it was 20 seconds of your time well spent in the social networking world.

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