“@joshuaerrett great meeting you! #justmet – Great talking with you. Have fun at sxsw!”
I wouldn’t go so far as to call it great. I’d say it was a “nice” meeting. But I don’t appreciate the robotweet, thanks. Who does?
At almost every SXSWi, there’s usually one or two new technologies that everyone crowds around as the next start up explosion. Twitter, Foursquare, and, locally, Toronto’s FreshBooks all gain clout at this festival. And all deserve it. Others like Fast Society and Groupme are vying for that mantle this year.
Another fashionable app at this year’s conference is Hashable, the inventors of the automated tweet I received several times in the last few days and reprinted at the top of this article. The more I get sent messages from it, the less fun my Twitter account is.
Hashable wants to do away with physical business cards and let people automate business contacts through their mobile phones, mostly via Twitter. The idea sounds functional and even admirable, until you get hit with an automated #justmet tweet. Awkward.
“Every business person is out meeting – having coffee, having drinks, having breakfast, having lunch” said Hashable CEO Michael Yavonditte. “That information is very useful.”
This is all true. But what irks me about Hashable is it mixes business with pleasure.
My Twitter account, and I’d venture to say I’m not alone here, is a mix of work-related messaging – in my case, technology, music and media opinions – but also tons of personal – filled with thoughts on how to chop an onion and what movies I recently watched.
Because of that, when I meet a business contact, Twitter will probably never be the preferred contact point. Nor should it. I unfollow people who tweet too much about work, or are strictly promotional. Again, I don’t believe I’m alone here, that is a part of the Twitter culture.
Hashable also works with e-mail, which I argue should remain as the primary contact for business dealings. But the fact that it is called #Hashable means the company is anticipating Twitter to stretch into that business networking realm.
No thanks! I have LinkedIn account for that. And if I wanted to be a buttoned up business-type on Twitter, I wouldn’t have any followers to talk to anyway.
For the type of casual tweeting experience I’m talking about, follow @joshuaerrett.
