For Me, The Twitter/Kutcher Net Race was all about the Other Nets

It’s hard to escape the buzz about Ashton Kutcher beating CNN in the “Twitter Race.” Opinions abound on the subject:

  1. I DON’T CARE!!!
  2. Power to the People!
  3. Twitter has turned into a popularity contest
  4. Twitter is now officially – heaven forbid – MAINSTREAM
  5. This is Changing the Face of Media
  6. Twitter is dead (meaning either it has caused its own demise or for the more dramatic among us: “you are dead to me, Twitter, sob, sob, dead to me”)

And Oprah will talk about web phenom Twitter with Ashton on TV today. Ah, the synergy.

I admit I was one of the people egging Kutcher on. On Facebook, I even posted updates of the “race” in an effort to get people to “follow” Kutcher on Twitter. Was I motivated by “beating the man,” namely the corporation CNN? Nah, for me it was all about the malaria nets.

The cynical among us will call Kutcher’s promise to buy 10,000 anti-mosquito nets for Africa a marketing ploy, a cheap trick, etc., to get his Twitter followers to a million. Is Kutcher just looking for more publicity? Or is he really trying to show the power of the people on social media sites?

In the end, does all that matter? Not to me. For me, it was always all about the anti-mosquito nets. If even one life could be saved, it was all worth it. And 10,000 malaria nets will surely save many lives. That thought makes me feel all warm and happy. Sure, Kutcher could have donated that money anyway without the contest. But I give him credit for turning what could have been just a publicity stunt or ego race into a humanitarian act.

Recently Kutcher was lagging behind CNN in the race, even with the promise of the nets, before Electronic Arts stepped in and offered to put the one millionth “follower” in their new video Game SIMS 3. At first, the percentage of new followers being added actually dropped off, as people were apparently waiting for others to join so they could be closer to the one millionth mark and possibly hit it. So Electronic Arts added more prizes to random follower numbers to encourage participation. And it worked. So self-interest induced many to “follow” Kutcher on Twitter. But whatever the motivation, things worked out great for the people who will never get malaria because of the promised nets.

So kudos to Kutcher for reaching out to people on Twitter. He has been taking questions and comments and responding to tweets, so he is being a good social media user.

But kudos most of all to Kutcher and to us for saving lives. Now that’s the real power of the people.

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Twitter: 1, Pizza (Domino’s): 0

When two Domino’s employees posted an online video this week showing them tampering with food in particularly disgusting ways (and no, I’m not going to link to it – I believe it has been taken down anyway), a company spokesman said they knew people on Twitter were wondering what the company was doing about it.

“We got blindsided by two idiots with a video camera and an awful idea,” said Tim McIntyre, a Domino’s spokesman.

“Even people who’ve been with us as loyal customers for 10, 15, 20 years, people are second-guessing their relationship with Domino’s, and that’s not fair.”

According to McIntyre, “Well, we were doing and saying things, but they weren’t being covered in Twitter.”

Apparently McIntyre didn’t understand how Twitter works. It doesn’t “cover” things. It is, of course, an online community where anyone can post anything and respond to anything – including companies.

McIntyre was told about the existence of the online video on Monday. The video had been viewed more than a million times by Wednesday afternoon.

Wednesday afternoon, Domino’s set up a Twitter account. By Wednesday evening, Domino’s chief executive appeared in a YouTube video.

McIntyre said, “It elevated to a point where just responding isn’t good enough.”

I think McIntyre missed the point. Domino’s was responding early on, but not on YouTube, the site where the video was seen, and not on Twitter, the site where people were asking questions. Granted, two days to produce and post a video is not bad. But the ability to monitor their brand on Twitter and to respond immediately to critics existed before this crisis. If Domino’s had already been on Twitter, they would have gained a couple of extra days of damage control.

I admit I was a Twitter skeptic. I still personally prefer Facebook to comment on people’s posts and to follow threads. I like having the comments listed together as they are on Facebook.

But for companies to get out information on their brands, Twitter is great. The short comments are an ideal venue for people to speak out and for companies to follow the comments.

I’m sure brands who haven’t taken to Twitter yet will be thinking twice now about getting a Twitter account. And for those looking for work, how does “Social Media Specialist” sound?

Footnote: And oh, yeah, as for the two lame-os who thought it was “funny” to cause a PR nightmare for a company in this already beaten-up economy: welcome to the unemployment line.

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