This iPhone Can’t Tweet

Most Bostonians are familiar with his campaign, he’s got signs and advertisements everywhere comparing the incumbent Mayor Menino to old technologies and himself to new technologies. Like the picture above, where Meninino is an old-school blocky cell-phone from the 80′s, while Flaherty is a slick new iPhone.

It’s a really slick marketing campaign, but when you don’t back it up, you fail. It makes you come off as all talk and no walk, and worse makes your campaign seem disorganized and discordant. When you say you are new technology, but then fail to utilize new technology effectively, your proposed image and actual implementation end up contradicting each other.

How does Michael Flaherty fail?

In numerous ways, but for today’s example we’re going to focus on Twitter, something the “iPhone candidate” should be up to speed on, right? I mean, they do sort of go hand in hand. They’re both the latest hot piece of technology. The iPhone is a portable, handheld internet enabled computer while Twitter is one of, if not the, most popular online social messaging systems. Sure, every Twitter user does not have an iPhone and every iPhone user does not tweet, but the majority of the hardcore users of both likely have at least a base understanding of each other.

Twitter is for Communicating, not Broadcasting

There’s a huge misconception amongst many people that Twitter is for sending out inane updates about what you had for lunch or broadcasting your product to the masses. It is neither. While sending out tweets about your product or food choices can be effective at generating sales and showing your personality, if that’s all you do it shows a clear lack of understanding about the core of Twitter. More importantly, it likely won’t work. There’s exceptions, but for the most part, if you don’t engage no one will listen.

Let me break it down simply, for everyone, Twitter is a communication platform.

Twitter is not a:

• billboard
• lunch menu
• bullhorn
• something only web geeks do

It’s actually an immensely simple idea that got out of the way of people and allowed them to communicate quickly, easily, and freely.

When your Twitter stream has nothing but updates from you, meaning zero replies, zero ReTweets, zero interaction, and you’re following zero people, you fail. You come across as an automated yes-bot.

Take a look at Michael Flaherty’s Twitter stream:

Michael Flaherty's Events Calender/Twitter Stream

As you can see it’s basically his events calendar.

Wow Michael, you just got out of a city council meeting, that’s amazing! Thanks for informing us that you’re doing your job!

Let’s Talk, Not Stalk

The problem which Michael’s tweets, is that I don’t care about any of the information there. If I wanted to know where he’ll be, I’d check his web-page and look for an events calendar. Twitter is for communicating, and when used correctly could be a potential revolution in how constituents can interact with their government. When used to broadcast messages one way, it shows a complete failure for even the most basic of understandings about how the system works.

Don’t talk at me, talk to me.

You know what, that last sentence is so absolutely crucial to using Twitter well, and being a good Mayor that I’m going to repeat it and highlight it.

Don’t talk at me, talk to me.

Look, I don’t expect Michael Flaherty to ingrain himself in the Twitter community but I do expect him to bring someone in who gets it and to get advice before just throwing up random content (by the way Michael, if this article hasn’t completely turned you off, I am available for social media consulting sessions).

Now, if Michael didn’t brand himself as a candidate that is an improvement over the incumbent, then I wouldn’t care much. You don’t need to use Twitter, but if you brand yourself as the equivalent of an iPhone and do brand yourself as an improvement over the incumbent, then I would expect you to tweet well.

In this case, Mayor Menino’s Twitter stream is done well. Sure, it’s done by a staff member, but I could care less. If a tweet gets sent that needs the Mayor’s attention, the staff member can relay it on. I’d rather have an intermediary do it well than to have whoever do it poorly.

What’s worse, is that Flaherty doesn’t understand a relatively simple piece of technology like Twitter. What does it mean when the 80′s cell-phone uses a new piece of technology better than the iPhone?

Yelling in my Ear in Real Life

At the Dorchester Day parade, Flaherty’s campaign was the only one that brought a truck out that had a guy inside yelling loudly into a bullhorn:

VOTE FOR MICHAEL FLAHERTY FOR MAYOR OF THE CITY OF BOSTON FOR 2009. MICHAEL FLAHERTY MICHAEL FLAHERTY MICHAEL FLAHERTY

I get it. Your campaign thinks Michael Flaherty is a swell guy, but here’s the thing, it doesn’t matter. Personally I could care less about the candidate, his attributes, his personality and his accomplishments. Frankly it doesn’t matter because at the end of the day, it’s not about the candidate, it’s about the constituents.

Michael Flaherty may be a god amongst men, but what does that mean for me, a citizen of Boston? Whether Flaherty wins or not, we won’t be living in Flaherty land, we’ll still be living in Boston. Whoever wins will not be managing the entire city, their staff will. The direct impact of the person who’ll have the title will be minimal. How he interacts with his staff and how both interact and work with the citizens of Boston will determine how effective the mayor will be.

Someone who talks at me, not to me, does not sound like a team player. Someone who thinks it’s all about him, not about me and the other citizens of Boston, will fail. Someone who doesn’t realize it’s a good idea to ask someone with expertise in a field before diving in sounds like an egomaniac who will refuse to listen to outside ideas. That, to me, is not a mayor, it’s a dictator.

The Boston Personality

A lot of people outside the City of Boston used to struggle with my Boston personality, mistaking my dry sarcasm for truth. When I lived in Southern California and North Carolina, there were many times someone would apologize or get upset when I said something, not realizing it was a joke or “witty” comment.

I don’t blame them. Our sense of sarcasm is derived from the British and their dry sense of humor. It’s often tough to tell when we’re being sarcastic and when we’re being genuine.

When I first started writing online back in the late 90′s, it was quickly apparent that this sarcastic bit of my personality would be extremely difficult to portray correctly online. Heck, it’s tough to spot in person, even by other Bostonians, so it’d be nearly impossible to spot in written form.

I experimented with all types of ways to keep my sarcastic side. From quickly explaining when someone misunderstood me to preparing ahead of time and marking my sarcastic quips with <sarcasm></sarcasm> tags to notify everyone before hand that the words between these tags are not to be interpreted literally.

Eventually, I gave up and realized that online, it’s best to skip the sarcasm and speak literally. That way there’s no room for misinterpretations. Sure, it sucks a little bit to push aside a part of my personality, but as anyone who knows me in real life will tell you, it’s probably for the best as I tend to overdo the sarcasm.

When Sarcasm Attacks

Still, it pops up here and there, mostly as a way for me to deal with an upsetting event or to poke fun at something without having to think of a joke. For instance, after last night’s Terrible Thursday for Boston sports (the Red Sox lost in extra innings, the Celtics lost a close playoff game, and the Bruins lost in Overtime to end their playoffs run), I updated my facebook status to:

thinks North Carolina is a stupid, smelly, ugly state that doesn’t even like hockey, nay, scratch that I know they don’t like hockey. Boo you Hartford Whalers, boo you. Still, go TarHeels.

Now, I think it’s clear to most of my facebook friends that the above is complete and utter sarcasm, apart from the booing of the Hartford Whalers (aka the Carolina Hurricanes), but wonder if people who don’t really know me might take offense at the statement. My facebook profile is completely and utterly public, meaning anyone can view it. Some Carolina residents might stumble upon my status and think I’m genuinely calling the state “stupid, smelly, ugly”.

I lived in Chapel Hill, North Carolina for over two years so clearly I didn’t hate it. In fact, I loved Chapel Hill and though it was a beautiful part of the country filled with smart (and for what it’s worth, attractive) people. But, a potential employer or client or any person on facebook who does not know me might not realize that the status message is oozing with sarcasm. They might think I’m mean spirited, petty, and someone apt to fall into fits of random rage over sports.

To Be or Not To Be…Sarcastic

My friends know the comment is sarcastic to the bone but these people who don’t know me might read it literally. Are these rare moments where I allow that sarcastic side to do its thing OK? Or is the potential damage to my personal brand not worth it? After all, I doubt anyone who’d find that comment offensive, dumb or childish would go out of their way to contact me to see what the real deal is. They’d just skip over me and move on.

All this talk and wondering about sarcasm comes from a conversation I had with a fellow Bostonian over Twitter. She had sent me a direct message to let me know that an earlier tweet was sarcastic (sounds just like something I used to do!). I replied back saying no worries, since I know that 90% of the population in Boston are wicked sarcastic.

But does the rest of the world realize that? Heck, even I wondered a bit about some of her tweets. I figured most of them were sarcastic, but of course did not know for sure.

And that’s the problem with sarcasm online. It’s very tough to pull off in a way that leaves you feeling confident that the other side knows the tone was sarcastic. It’s why I try to limit my sarcasm and try to be conscious of how I communicate online. In the end, I feel it makes some of my writing a bit dry, but at least it’s not misunderstood.

Now, I know that there’s tons of satire and sarcasm all over the internet. The Onion is one of the most popular sites online and it’s filled with nothing but satire and sarcasm. But is there room for sarcasm in our blogging, our tweeting and the other forums where we interact and communicate with each other? Should those of us with a sarcastic side try to play it down or should be let our freak flags fly without a care in the world?