About an hour ago, I sent a Twitter message to Joe Cascio, who I know lives in Connecticut, questioning if he wanted to get together this weekend as I’ll be attending a friend’s wedding and am considering visiting Foxwoods. Since Joe and I haven’t met yet, I thought Foxwoods could be a convenient stomping ground.
Lo and behold, @FoxwoodsCT and @MGMFoxwoodsCT are now following my future tweets.
Why are they following me?
Maybe the person behind either account is in the process of sending me a tweet–whether thanking me for considering a casino visit, or going so far as offering me a food or lodging discount–but by following me without engaging me is a form of stalking and not talking and not how a business should be run. Not on Twitter, anyway.
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Ari Herzog is an online media strategist and Newburyport City Councilor-Elect.
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You are absolutely right!
I get the same sort of strange followers based on arbitrary Tweets.
To me, it’s evidence these companies just don’t get it.
-Josh
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I try to initiate contact and send a message or two. Twitter search is a great resource, especially when looking into bigger competitors. Because people may comment on how they are looking for something else. A simple 1-2 tweets to that person could land another sign-up when addressing properly. I think MGM has, the right idea, and should send you an @ reply asking if you have any questions or how they can help. Something that simple would be enough contact and consideration.
This is such a simple post, with so much punch. People don’t realize, stalking is so very different that talking and engaging.
Now if we could just get everyone else to see this 
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Perhaps I should send a tweet to the two aforementioned stalkers to tickle their noses to determine if this scent may cause them to rethink their strategy.
Sometimes I think twice about something I’m going to say rather than have it picked up on like that! I don’t typically follow back unless its something I’m really interested in, but I still feel like someone was lurking around the corner listening to my conversation, ready to pounce!
Interesting. I’d like to defend the accounts, saying that maybe they were just following everyone that mentioned them, and now they’re just working their way through the list, responding to people individually. Who knows.
Either way, you’re right that it should be done a better way. But stalking? Respectfully, I disagree with you there Ari. It’s just my opinion, but I think you’re being a little melodramatic.
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With the automated tools people have built, I wonder if they even know they are following you!
Automation is good, but not at the expense of being completely clueless as to what is going on. Something I’ve learned from checking out all those various twitter tools.
Cheers Ari!
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I run the twitter feed for Foxwoods/MGM Grand at Foxoods, and appreciate the feedback from this article and comments. We have begun to use twitter as a tool to let people know about events and promotions around the casino. It is a new tool for us, so we are still figuring out the best ways to use it. I started to follow people that have tweeted about Foxwoods, as I saw them as people that may be interested in learning about these events. I am beginning to see that there may be better ways to approach this process, and welcome any feedback or suggestions. Much of the advertising for us has been “traditional” over the years, such as print, radio, TV, etc… so I have begun to take an initiative to expand that into social networking. If my approach with twitter has come across as “stalking,” then I apologize, but please understand that was not the intent. Please feel free to send me any comments or ideas.
Thanks,
Andy
Do you think that goes for just businesses or for people in general? I sometimes follow people I’m interested in (like other folks who work in new media and/or government), but I don’t always send them a tweet to say why I’m following them or to introduce myself. Sounds like you’re just talking about business, though.
So, on a related note, what do you think about this?
As you know, I manage the Governor’s New Media Initiatives. The Governor tweets himself and he and his staff do our best to respond to people who tweet @massgovernor (answer questions, correct falsehoods, etc).
If you do a Twitter search for “Deval Patrick” or “Gov Patrick”, though, there are plenty of other questions and falsehoods out there. I assume many of those people don’t know that the governor’s office even has a twitter account. I don’t think we should start following them, but do we engage with them? We don’t have time to take on every question and falsehood directly, but do we at least come up with a standard response to let them know about the @massgovernor account where we encourage them to stay engaged?
Some might think it’s too ‘big brother’ or too much like the way a business would market, but one of the Governor’s top priorities is civic engagement. He believes government functions best and is most efficient when its citizens are connected, engaged, letting those in government know how public policy is effecting them, making suggestions on how to better govern, etc..
Thoughts?
Forget about Twitter. Would the standard response be the same when the Governor speaks at a town hall meeting and receives questions? No. Of course he’d personalize responses, so why should Twitter be different?
The responses to questions posted to our Twitter account are already personalized. I’m looking for thoughts on reaching out to people who have tweeted about the Governor. For example, “I don’t agree with Governor Patrick’s policy on x”. If we search on “Governor Patrick,” we see that. Do we reach out to that person ? There are often hundreds a day and there’s no way we can personalize every one, but thought it might be a good opportunity to let them know the Governor has a Twitter account where they can engage more directly.
How about creating a robot account that can auto-message such people with a redirect that @massgovernor exists?
I guess there is nothing more frustrating than what you think is a good blogging relationship ends up in a colleague not following you on Twitter. What a put down! ‘Friend or follow’ separates online friends from the twits.
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