How could such a small bird threaten such a large country?
In a piece of not-as-shocking-as-it-should-be news today, China has blocked it’s citizens’ access to twitter. Naturally, they’re not saying why it’s been blocked, but there’s a lot of speculation that it has to do with the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests coming up on June 4. This article from AdAge tells a bit more.
Sometimes I forget how good I have it living here in America. Not only do I have free access to just about any corner of the internet I choose to venture into, but my government usually doesn’t kill dissenters. I digress…
Clearly China is starting to catch on to what clever marketers figured out from day one. Twitter is unbelievably powerful for spreading ideas. It’s like being at a party that everyone in the world is invited to, and being able to join (or just eavesdrop on) any conversation you want. It’s a learning tool, a social tool, and an incredible marketing tool.
Don’t be China.
Twitter is a powerful (and very, very simple) tool that smart businesses will need to know how to leverage if they are serious about marketing their brand on the web. Don’t shut it out just because it’s scary or new. There’s opportunity to be had in that brave new world. And isn’t that what we’re all looking for?
Tags: china, Social media, twitter
I can’t say I’m totally sold on the power of Twitter, but I’ll agree to an update of an old line, “You can say anything you want about me, as long as you say something about me and spell my name right when you Twitter.”
The “spell my name right” quote is attributed to several people, so I’ll just mention George M. Cohan, because I can picture James Cagney saying it, and Huey Long because he was a politician, who appeared to be unashamed of his reputation.
The marketing equivalent is to get your name out there somewhere. Most of us would prefer “good” publicity, so control what you can, and be pro-active when you can’t.
VB