Trending on the fast lane, life in the age of #

About 10 years ago no one would believe you when you said businesses would be controlled by a simple alpha-numeric symbol on our computer keyboards that is called hashtag #. In actual fact, no one ever imagined that Social Media will grow as rapidly as it has in the recent ages. It has become hard for organisations to ignore it to such an extent that there are reputation management agencies that mainly focus on handling other businesses’ Social Media accounts and campaigns. Micro blogging sites like Twitter have went from just simple social get together sites for old friends or people of similar interest to the biggest business platforms, so much so that even the old traditional media is dying because everyone is glued to their laptop screens and mobile gadgets. All is done in just 140 characters.

The word hashtag or the simple symbol # has become a key word in the cyber and everyone who wants to be relevant or be up to date with the latest information on anything or anyone in the world only needs a device that has internet connection. A friend of mine; Era Baloyi once told me that news breaks on Twitter and that at times he does not see the need to watch television for updates such as the news or his favorite soap operas. True to his word, he has gone on to master the craft of being the local Social Media Guru, as he calls himself.

Celebrity’s command huge numbers of followers on Social Media, some accounts even go for over 2 million. Oh wait, while on that celebrity topic, just recently, in fact two days ago,  a South African Idols judge and a popular Metro FM radio DJ who is also a singer herself; Unathi Msengana was suspended at the radio station due to the heated argument she had with one of her listeners and a follower to her Twitter account. The DJ had apparently made distasteful remarks on air about a heated race argument much to the dislike of her listeners who took to Twitter and in just minutes she was on already trending in Johannesburg. Local tabloids had no choice but to run with the story and add fuel to the fire. The power of # and the 140 characters could really do more harm than good if not handled well.

The biggest challenge that most user’s struggle with though is to always stay relevant because even smallest things such as spelling error or typo, one can be crucified for ages, especially the more popular people (I am still safe for now #chuckles). On the relevance note though, one cannot help but notice that Twitter, as is the sole attention of this post, has its own set of vocabulary…or must I say a certain interest group may create its own vocabulary to avoiding committing grammatical sins especially when the 140 character restriction gets to them. Lately I have noticed phrase like Oomf, which in most cases I get to realise that it may mean “someone” based on the different contexts. One can never keep up with these things.

Back to the business part of micro blogging; organisations that do not engage with their audiences on Social Media are seen as stuck in the stone ages and the shareholders gets to see the impact on the profit margins. I learned during my years as a University student that negative trends about any brand can spread faster than the Cape Town wild fires. Unless the spokespeople are very well informed and active on any Social Media platform, they may be faced with huge damage control to do, of which it will seem like a losing battle because they will have to go back to the very same Social Media platforms and build from scratch. The difference this time around will be that they will need to have a substantial amount of budget for the new campaigns.

Just like the police always say; anything you say will, or may be use against you in the court of Twitter.

As I see it...