There is something about the word "Twitter" that makes my hair stand up. And then there's the word "Tweet," which really gets my goat. Why? Because I have this perception that all of these social networking activities are nothing more than digital pollutants, clogging up the arteries that feed the Internet.
From an investor relations perspective, many social networking tools are being utilized to promote stocks, whether justifiable or not. And therein lies the rub: How do you distinguish the good information from the bad?
Personally, I think it comes down to social responsibility. For example, if an IRO would like to Tweet about a company's 20% increase in revenues, I say Tweet on, as long as the news has already been publicly disseminated. But how about the use of Twitter to spout off about unsubstantiated information? Ultimately, there is a certain social responsibility that Tweeters should abide by to ensure that important messages do not get lost amid the cacophony of superfluous Twits, I mean Tweets.
Instead of perceiving social media as another outlet to senselessly bombard audiences, they should be perceived as a privilege, a tool, an effective method that, when used judiciously, provide valuable information.
-- Evan Pondel, Vice President, epondel@pondel.com
