Comments on: Michelle Obama Twitter Account Suspended

By: Igor The Troll

Igor The Troll — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 06:51:18 +0000

My Twitter account got suspended because of my support for Israel.

I filled a Getsatisfaction complaint
http://getsatisfaction.com/twitter/topics/twitter_censorship_and_cybebullying

Twitter still not responded to me officially.

By: Michael J. Pratt

Michael J. Pratt — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 16:19:05 +0000

Janet – I couldn’t agree more.

By: Janet

Janet — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 06:03:58 +0000

Michael,
I guess what I meant to say is; it isn’t what I (underlined) say on Twitter as much as it is how the conversation evolves from there. One voice does not carry nearly the weight of many and there are plenty out there to carry the theme of the Obama campaign.
So yes, they certainly could talk back more, but I maintain that Twitter is a viral community and it doesn’t take much to start the fire.

By: Rodney Rumford

Rodney Rumford — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 03:13:34 +0000

Michael,
I love your passion man. The people that are immersed in this eco-system become very passionate (myself included) because we see the value of the ability to do amazing things with twitter.

“It’s so democratic it’s scary”: That is why i love twitter. If you suck, you are gone. If you are clueless and rude you are blocked. If you tweet garbage you get no followers. If you add value you flourish. What a concept.

I have been on twitter for 2 years this December and what amazes me to this day is how people choose to use it. In many ways that is the beauty; twitter is whatever you want it to be.

Twitter is a tool like a hammer. you can build an amazingly useful piece of furniture, or you can hit people over the head, or you can repair things, or you can break glass or you can build a podium with which to share your thoughts… not the best analogies but you get the point…

Actually, I have lightened up on my initial position against using it as a broadcast tool (rss auto-posting jackhammer); since i can just put earplugs in and ignore/block you and not tell you that you are about to hit a gas main. To each their own. Live and let die (the people that don’t get it).

Again thanks to everyone for their thoughts on this: Michael, Peggy, Janet, Jesse and Mick. Spread the word and let’s see what more people think.

By: Michael J. Pratt

Michael J. Pratt — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 02:54:41 +0000

Janet, with all dude respect, I think you’re way off on “Twitter isn’t about what you post on Twitter” It sure is! What you post on Twitter defines you on Twitter. it either prompts engagement from others or causes them to turn you off, or even block you. It’s so democratic it’s scary. You create the network YOU want via this pure system. With discipline, you can build a stream of real value adders and real engagement. Peggy and Rodney are spot on. With little effort, Obama could add some flavor of his own. Engage. Use Twitter as those who are really successful do. To say he gets Twitter is unfair to those who do. Heck, Comcast “gets” Twitter. they engage and even do cust support via twitter. Remarkable. What’s worse, Obama’s campaign doesn’t even autopost that frequently! For crying out loud, they could only come up with 200 posts since Jan? How about 15 a day? Sorry but “it makes sense to leave the Twittering to the supporters” actually doesn’t make sense. twitter is all of us

By: Rodney Rumford

Rodney Rumford — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 19:32:18 +0000

Peggy & Janet

I agree with your well thought out comments 100%!

p.s. I am sure they will never respond to any of us on twitter. That is what pisses me off the most. It is like I am shouting and they are not listening… um kind of like politicians in real life.

By: Peggy Dolane

Peggy Dolane — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 19:19:37 +0000

I agree that Obama can’t have conversation with all of his followers via Twitter. But I also agree that he doesn’t “get” the full potential of the medium. His current Tweets read like a boring “to do”list. Speaking here, watch me there.

He is missing an opportunity to communicate his more personal feelings about what he cares about. He could have found 140 characters to say when McCain suspended the campaign. Or he could ask his followers questions about what they are concerned about. The possibilities of even more engaging broadcast-type tweets are endless.

Engagement is the point of Twitter. Obama’s use of it is a one-way broadcast that falls flat. The only reason I’m following him is I keep hoping that he’ll figure it out and Tweet something interesting. If I send him enough messages, do you think he’ll eventually get it?

In fact, I’ll be tweeting him a link to this page. Wonder if anyone will actually open it up and read your article and comments. Yeah right.

By: Janet

Janet — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 19:12:30 +0000

There’s no question that the Obama campaign gets social media. Look at the many ways they are using it in their campaign from text messaging, blogs, YouTube, Facebook groups, iphone apps and his own site, which is basically a social network hub.

It’s true that @barackobama is an auto post, but Twitter isn’t about what you post to Twitter, it’s about how the rest of us pass that message on and react to it. The campaign has been very grassroots and it makes sense to leave the Twittering to the supporters and watch it grow from there.

By: Rodney Rumford

Rodney Rumford — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 19:11:41 +0000

Points well taken Michael.

Ideally they would engage. Kind of disappointing that they have not.

I am not a fan of feeds being pumped automatically into twitter for distribution. Some people find value in this use case. I am not a fan of this use case personally. Like you; I get my feeds elsewhere.

By: Michael J. Pratt

Michael J. Pratt — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 19:07:43 +0000

Rodney – I agree with your points. I was just taken a bit by the word “get” I still maintain he and his campaign don’t get it. It’s not different than if McCain’s campaign if they were smart enough to have even created an account 6 months ago and set up a feed. While I see the limited utility in providing a Twitter feed for those who want one (I get my feeds elsewhere) you , of all people, know that it doesn’t constitute “getting” twitter. I would hope you’d point that out. What it really amounts to is someone in Obama’s campaign saying “Hey, we should pump our stuff into a Twitter feed” Whoopie. Almost useless. I’d love to know how many people actually get anything out of the 200 times they sent a message. Imagine the power if they engaged. It’s possible. You don’t have to auto-bot follow 90,000 people. They should have a staff member focused on the engagement part. The velocity of people talking about them doesn’t necessarily translate into inability to engage. It has been done before. Until then, they a re nowhere on the Twitter scale and not much better than McCain in that regard. I just wanted more from them.McCain? He clearly doesn’t get it.