Monthly Archives: December 2012

Ghost Tweeters

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The whole purpose of having a personal Twitter is to express yourself in a timely fashion.  I use Twitter to share my personality. My un-sequestered personality.   For me, Facebook is about friends and acquaintances (near and far), LinkedIn is business, the blog is business, and Foursquare is about food, drink and places.  Twitter is all those things.  It is the most well-rounded social platform as it relates to the real me. Brands that use Twitter similarly, to share their personality, are using it most properly (governed by a brand plan, of course).

Cory Booker is a big media socialist. He is also a great man, politician and power broker. He Tweets for himself as far as I can tell.  He has people to scan social media and they don’t miss much, though the Tweets are from his thumbs. Some high profile people with Twitter accounts are so busy they have ghost tweeters. That’s bullshizz.  It’s disingenuous. And it should be against the Twitter law. If you don’t have time to share your personality with people interested in you, then you don’t get the platform.

Twitter is so, so amazing…but it is getting watered down by ghosts, sycophants and marketers. When I read some of Cory Bookers article and papers, say on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, I know they are not written by him. (Or I suspect so.) And that’s okay, but at least he knows how to use Twitter.  And he had better keep his thumbs on those keys. Peace.

Lincoln Motor Carpy (sic).

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I just read a print ad for the new Lincoln Motor Company (New?) and I’m perplexed. The first part of the message is a call to non-action. It reads “Does the world need another luxury car? Not really.” Okay, so that’s out of the way. (And, with global carbon dioxide levels up 41%, I must agree.)

The next message suggests that the Lincoln brand was created not to meet the need of consumers but rather to suit Edsel Ford. The word Edsel is synonymous with utter failure BTW, but maybe the ad will change all that. The first Lincoln was created by Edsel Ford as an intrepid vacation auto — to please his own personal sensibility.  

Then the copy moves on to share some historical firsts, e.g., a shifter not on the column, push button transmission (always good to talk about the past when positioning for the future) and then discusses “engineered humanity” that puts the driver first. Huh?    

Finally there is some buried discussion about the new MKZ and a strong finish about concierge service — as if our heads weren’t spinning enough.

The tidy little bow at the end is “Call it luxury. Call it engineering humanity. We’re calling it the Lincoln Motor Company. A completely reinvented wheel, with you at its center.”  

Wheel as the company metaphor…really?  Ah, the craft. Peace.