The Message, Media and Measure

A Neilson company blog reported last week that despite its exponential growth, Twitter may not be sticky enough to hold a long term audience. While Twitter and other emerging tools have been receiving much press hype -- and many new users, successful communication requires that users do more than just experiment with them. Neilson is not suggesting that Twitter will go away, especially right now, rather that success might best be measured in terms of its ability to engage, rather than raw popularity.

Put another way, the quality of communication matters.  Measured by sheer quanitity, SPAM email messages are enormously successful.  Nevertheless, they are shunned not only for their parasitic nature but also for ineffectiveness.  On the continuum of media tools, popularity and utility together matter most.

Because every communication channel comes with explicit and implcit costs, organizations must work to identify a set of tools that balances breadth and depth of communication.  Suppose you could choose only two, or three, perhaps five, but not eleven communication tools.  Which would align best given your goals and audience? Email is ubiquitus. Facebook is connected.  Texting is immediate.  Twitter is like an online watercooler for conversation.  Having chosen the right communication channel(s) for the job, the next step is putting them to work -- another adventure.