The Social Media Conundrum: What is a “Twittership”?

No, not “Tweetership”, I said “Twittership”. Now, I know most of you are probably thinking this is some cool new dating service, or possibly one of our best on the Atlantis, well sorry to crush your dreams all you hopeful lovers! Actually, this word really doesn’t exist in a formal sense.

This message is intended for all you soon to be college students (and parents, too). It’s not time to go back to school quite yet, but as some of you are sitting at home this summer or working endless hours at the mall (or working endless hours on your social networking) looking for ways to pay for your college education, I have come across several “Twitterships”, (a real scholarship and all you have to do is use Twitter).

Can you come up with 140-character tweets? If so, you may be able to help cover some or all of your college tuition. For example:

• The University of Iowa is offering a full $37,000 scholarship to the MBA program as part of the application process for the person with the best 140-charcter tweet by July 28^th.
• Scholarship.com is running a “Short & Tweet” campaign worth $1,000 to the winner by July 31^st.
• CollegeScholarships.org gave out an award for $1,400 for the best tweet highlighting how to use Twitter to improve the world.
• In November 2010, KFC and the Colonel gave out a $20,000 scholarship for tweeting why you deserve a scholarship.

So what’s the conundrum? Show me the money? Not really. The question I really wanted to address is get to the point! Electronic and social media communication is about being timely and relevant, so get to the point … quickly. We need to feed our readers with straight-to-the-point information before it is lost. The end-users feed will only display your message for so long before new and more relevant info gets pulled in. You only have so long for someone to react or interact before they forget, lose interest or do not see your message anymore. Even universities are not ignoring the fact that writing styles and communication patterns are evolving and the typical 1,000-word essay may be a day of the past.

Leave me your best 140-character tweet in the comments section below or on our Twitter page with @srcommando on why you think Twitter can improve the world.

Until next time, keep it short.

______________________________________________________________

Stephen Command is an Account Manager for Make Me Social, a social media agency that develops customized social media strategies for businesses.

The Social Media Conundrum [kəˈnəndrəm]

…..why, because I strangely love that word!

According to the Dictionary, (and yes, you are probably asking yourself … Merriam-Webster? Dictionary.com? No need to specify. The Dictionary is the Dictionary!) a Conundrum can be defined as a difficult problem, question or even possibly a riddle. The stories, along with commentary and interpretation, of this blog series “The Social Media Conundrum” will examine some of those difficult problems or questions (and maybe even a riddle here or there) that people face when exploring or reviewing Social Media Marketing.

This series will not just investigate the problem and solution, but will try to come alive with some real accounts (hopefully not as bad as this):

Ok, so maybe that’s not really how it works, but how is Social Media different for my new Skinny Jeans company vs. my personal everyday use? And how will it help my business? How will I measure it? Who is the right person to develop strategy and execute Social Media?

Or maybe you are already part of the Social Media revolution and asking yourself, am I doing it right? What can I do to make it easier to manage?

I hope to address the many Conundrums stumbled upon while heading down the path of Social Media Marketing.

______________________________________________________________

Stephen Command is an Account Manager for Make Me Social, a social media agency that develops customized social media strategies for businesses.