To quote or not to quote - That is the question.

First and foremost - I am not a social media expert.  Not even close! I'm just a business person trying to learn how to communicate across an evolving medium.   Lucky for me, I am surrounded by people who know a lot more about it than I do.  I won't call them experts.  They'd shoot me if I did.  You see, social media is changing too fast .  No one is really an expert.  Some just know more than others and have been at it longer.

I got some good pointers from Twitter friends this weekend. 

The first was from Tyler Hurst. 

tdhurst @joankw NO RECYCLED QUOTES. YOU ARE BETTER THAN THAT

I obviously over did it Saturday night.

The second was from an article posted by Brian Solis about authenticity and authority in social media.  A Soliloquy: The Language of Social Media by Brian Solis (@BrianSolis)

I loved Brian's article and sent it out as a RT.  The feedback I've been getting back all day is that  authenticity should be the goal every time.

Now, I tweet quite a bit, and across multiple profiles as you can see on this page.  My personal profile description is 'an eclectic mix of ideas' while the other four are focused on innovation, leadership, growth, and business success.

So perhaps I should take another look  at those quotes I tweeted...

joankw “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.” ~  Dr. Seuss

Hmmm.  Perhaps I need to think a bit more about what I am doing?

JKWgrowth “Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.” ~ Dr. Seuss

So taking a page from Dr. Seuss - I looked around my twitterverse to see what I could see.  Since the twitterverse is huge, I took a note from the Beatles and got a little help from my friends... by looking at what they do.

@MarkIsMusing is one of the tweeters I have followed from day one.  Yes, he tweets everyday stuff, but when he starts musing he'll treat the 26,000+ people who follow him to a string of quotes he is 'musing' about.  He also has a great newsletter and a blog I now subscribe to. Plus he splits his time between Calgary and Maui AND remodels his own bathroom.  What's not to like?

 @StartupPro is a friend and favorite.  No quotes from Marty Zwilling.  An entrepreneur and investor, he's a blogger who posts every day!  Not only does his blog have a great following but he has almost twice Mark's Twitter following with nary a quotation in sight.  Great content, predictability (count on a new blog post EVERY morning), and sharing business insights is his secret to success.

@WBAustin is a running news stream of ideas and articles.  It works for him and his close to 100,000 followers.  Bill's wife @KatheeSue handles the local beat with @EVLIving while chatting with friends as KatheeSue.

@Hardaway (Francine Hardaway) Co-founder, Stealthmode Partners, helping entrepreneurs succeed.  I won't be showing her 'recycled quotes' she rarely if ever does that. Her tweets are as authentic as they get as she reports on her life, ideas, and activities throughout the day.  As my friend and mentor, she always tries to keep me out of trouble.  Sometimes I even listen. 

 @Amilya (Amilya Antonetti) an award winning entrepreneur,Green Pioneer Bestselling Author, Media Personality, Advocate and Mom is a conversationalist on Twitter.  She loves to twitter chat with @TomVMorris who is one of the best.  I've never had the pleasure of tweeting with Dr. Morris on Twitter, but I love to read his occasional quotes from the great philosophers as well as his own insightful quips.  Who knows, maybe some day.  ;o) 

The funny thing is, Twitter asks "What are YOU doing?"  When I was pulling those quotes - I WAS reading  Oh, the Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss.  It's the tall skinny volume in my bookshelf between Norton's Anthology of Poetry and The Holy Bible.    I love books and read a lot more than I tweet.  The picture is of the bookshelf in the playroom that stands next to the pool cues.  My library/office is filled with business books, and in my bedroom closet, hundreds of novels.  (I may have more novels than Amilya has shoes!)

JKWleadership My Favorite Leadership Books - Oh, The Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss~ Read it to your kids... Read it for yourself.

I had pulled that book out after a long day of struggling through business plans, financial models, and other stuff that the Twitterati would probably find a bit boring - not to mention, the stuff is all under NDA and I can't talk about it anyway.  And why you might ask, did I make such a switch in reading material just then.  Simple. I saw the quote on Twitter from Robert Baines that read:

"screamingeagle1 "I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells." ~ Dr. Seuss. 

It reminded me of just what I needed to clear my brain.

“Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the things you can think up if only you try!” ~ Dr. Seuss

So, as my friend Amilya says, "it's time to 'noodle." 

Here's my lesson learned this weekend.  If authenticity is important,  then you just have to be who you are.  I am just what my personal profile says... an eclectic mix.  Not to say that I can't learn to be better.  I'll follow Tyler's advice and perhaps use some more of my own quotes more frequently rather than quoting someone else.  Francine and Marty have encouraged me to write/blog more.  (Francine even told me that my writing has improved.  But that's for you to decide.)  I'll keep reading and sharing the articles, news stories, and bits that I think have value.  Sharing things of value with others is what I do everyday outside the twitterverse. I'll chat more, broadcast less,  AND - I'll try to mix it up a bit more so as not to be annoying.  Oh, and I am suspending my auto link for @joankw from Seesmic to Facebook.  According to my husband, my in-laws have hidden me because I send out too much stuff!

So, is this the right strategy?  Well, we'll see. There was a great quote this weekend by Victoria Holt - my favorite author during my teen years.  (No laughing - love, adventure, suspense AND a happy ending.  What's not to like.  I still own every single one of her books in paperback.)

"Never regret. If it's good, it's wonderful. If it's bad, it's experience." Victoria Holt (1906-1993) British writer (via @successsecret) AKA: Mike Hanes (@MikeHanes)

Thanks for stopping by - and reading to the end.  Stay tuned...

Joan Koerber-Walker

Technorati Tags: Joan Koerber-Walker,CorePurpose,social media,communications,lessons learned,business tips,#quotes,authenticity

Credits:  Photo - Joan Koerber-Walker - If you don't believe me, you can come check in my play room.  Tweets - as of this writing at 5:48 PM (pacific) on June 14,2009 - everything shown here was visible via the public feeds on Twitter.

Comments

[Amanda Vega]

So, here's my take on this because I know you personally, Joan. I too am someone that hates incessant quoting on Twitter. But, it's really only annoying to me when that's ALL someone does. To me, that is lacking in authenticity. But, I have to say that I think you have a good layered mix of quotes, personal quips, conversation responses, and good articles.

More importantly, because I know you personally, I can attest to the fact that your experience and consistent offering of said experience is something that has guided me in so many situations, and strengthened me as a business person, and woman. I know that in conversations with you in person, you also share quotes and the history/true meaning behind them, and also offer good advice/examples of how they have applied to you in the past - always leading me to at the very least. some food for thought for myself/experiences.

So, I suppose that's the crux. If you don't know the person you have a "tweetership" with in real life, you could likely misunderstand that their Twitter banter may not be trite, or lazy, but perhaps indeed how they may socialize with you in person as well.

Goodness knows that in person I do indeed spit out little pieces of venom in sarcastic and funny ways. Surely annoying to people in person, as well as on TWitter, but it is indeed who I am.

Amanda Vega
http://www.amandavega.com
Lucky Mentee of JKW way before I deserved it

[Ted Cook]

Joan,

I agree with Amanda that tweeting quotes in moderation is fine. It seems to me that tweeting an occasional quote gives insight into who we are, authentically. Others' words can, and have, inspired me profoundly. I see no reason not to share those words. If I tweet a quote, the character of that quote should give you some insight into who I am.

Ted Cook
@cookn

[Joan Koerber-Walker]

Amanda - Thank you for visiting the blog and for your lovely and gracious comments.

As you and others have taught me, there are no social media "experts" but when it comes to people who have been in the game since the beginning - you are at the head of the class. Bill Austin and I were reminiscing about the Social Media Conference in March of 07 tonight and I remember you and Robert Scoble both giving us hints of what was to come.

We first met after you moved to Phx and you reached out to me. It's been quite a few years since that first brakfast at Leo's. You were championing social media even then. Thank YOU for mentoring me. :-)

p.s. You can find Amanda on Twitter at http://twitter.com/amandavega.

[Joan Koerber-Walker]

Ted, I think you nailed it with "moderation".

Each of us looks for something a little different around the social media space. Those that our message resonnates with will listen and others will tune out. But then how is that different than any other form of communication.

All we can be is who we are. Anything else is just too much work. (Hey, I like that. Maybe I will quote myself.)

Have a great week and thanks for stopping by AND joining the conversation.

[www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawl6o-MQyAOTeJlDOZZOxkrI-wsh3n-0qPo]

I will tweet a quote now and then - one that seems to be positive and inspirational usually.

As far as authenticity in your persona, Joan, I cannot see any issues there at all.

If we listened to our critics and tried to adjust to them in lieu of being genuine, we'd all end up speaking the same meaningless white noise - I think we're meant to be different and different sometimes means not in agreement with one another.

Tyler sees the use of quotes differently - we still love him!

[Mike Henry]

Joan,

Nice post. I appreciate your tweets and I've got Oh, The Places You'll Go on my reading list for this month.

Mike...

[Joan Koerber-Walker]

Mike -

Thanks for stopping by. Oh, The Places You'll Go was the last book published by Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr.Seuss) in 1990. He passed away in 1991. It will always be one of my favorites.

Enjoy!

[Joan Koerber-Walker]

Thank you for your note.

Actually - I appreciate what Tyler sent. His tweet - which was sent as helpful advice and is definitely in his authentic voice. He made me think. By thinking about what I was doing and how I was doing it, hopefully I will get better.

Tyler did me a big favor. Most people would have just ignored me or worse unfollowed. He took the time to give me feedback. A valuable gift. I won't adopt his style, nor would he want me to, but perhaps I am one step closer to defining my own.

Thanks for stopping by and joining the conversation!

Joan.

[Francine Hardaway]

If I had in-laws, they would have blocked me on FB by now, too, because I send a lot of stuff from Twitter elsewhere. The problem is that FB is not for people who are heavily engaged in social media (yet). It's the baby step across the chasm of privacy to transparency.

I'm not sure I'm effective, but when I tweet I try to share information, like a link to something I read that I think others ought to know about. The problem with quotes is that after a few of them one tends to sound like a spiritual counselor, not a business person.

[Joan Koerber-Walker]

Francine -

You were the one that taught me that social media is for conversations not just throwing out ideas and walking away.

Tyler's shout out was a great reminder to be original. By looking at different people who have their own unique styles, I am learning to develop mine.

The great thing about getting feed back from Tyler or my in-laws is that it makes me more aware and hopefully considerate of those who are listening and who I hope will talk back.

Thanks for stopping by and joining the conversation.

Joan

[Dave Humphrey]

Great article. This is the beautiful thing about Twitter. "No Recycled Quotes" - for many they are not. The impact of one tweet can evolve into a thought process and/or an action that is so powerful and helpful.

The fact is, Social Media can't be put in a box. And the entertainment value in Social Media is watching, listening and reading the Tweets of the many who try to package it.

The reason there are so many "experts" writing, tweeting, blogging, etc. is simply because there is no ceiling. In fact, I attended a Internet Marketing Seminar two years ago and the hype then is not even seen now. It's amazing to see the process unfold and embraced by the world.

Keep up the good work Joan!

[Joan Koerber-Walker]

Dave:

Some say that "imitation is the purest form of flattery." (Anon)

Many tweeters have found their voice by echoing the great words and works of others. It is their way of opening conversations and by the nature of their quotes, sharing who they are.

Bill Austin and I were recalling the other night when Robert Scoble was with us in March of 2007 to keynote the OTEF Social Media Conference. We asked him - what was the next BIG thing in store for us - his answer was "Twitter." Francine Hardaway, OTEF's executive director, was already part of the Twitterverse. Bill joined that day and is consistently in the top 100 at @WBAustin. It took be a little longer for me to come on board. I did not join the chorus until January of 2009. But as I have engaged I've learned...

"We each have an individual voice, but together we form a chorus whose music can change the world." - Joan Koerber-Walker.

Thanks for stopping by....Stay tuned. ;-)