Watch Your Social Media Mouth!

Posted by Laura Bergells

February 19, 2008

In all innocence, I asked the ad agency creative director: “Do you Twitter?”

If he did, I intended to follow…

“I twitter efficiently,” he barked sharply, then turned away.

Oh dear. Didn’t mean to offend.

But honestly, the occasion seemed to warrant casual, social media lingo.

After all, the creative director was wrapping up a brief talk about using social media in business. And he mentioned that it was a shame that he was the only person in advertising using FaceBook.

Oh dear, again.

Well, we can’t have a battle of wits with an unarmed man, now, can we?

My big buzzword mistake: before tossing out names like Twitter, FaceBook, YouTube, et.al. — I need to consider the audience. Many of these names are still social media jargon and buzzwords to many in advertising. These terms seem to cloud, confuse, and befuddle – rather than clarify understanding.

Watch Your Social Media Mouth! Silly me — why would I expect a creative director (who espouses to be a leading social media expert, nonetheless!) to understand the term “Twitter”?

My bad.

But this little episode does raise a nagging question — how can I Twitter more efficiently?

Follow me on Twitter, if you like… (I won’t bark. But I may bite!)