Don't Spit

There’s spam, or unsolicited, undesired bulk email. There’s bacn, or messages you subscribed to receive but don't have time to read right now (if ever). And then there’s “spit,” which I just made up this minute to help describe "spam in Twitter" in an email to the staff.

What’s considered spam on Twitter is debatable. Brian Solis gamely attempted to define a category called Tofu, which is email "sent individually to people who are pre-qualified or identified as being related to, or interested in, a particular category or topic." Spit would be a Twitter pitch on the wrong side of that definition. The problem, of course, is that spit — like porn — is harder to define than to identify. PR pros who want to do right by their clients can't afford to get blacklisted. Neither can they afford to avoid conversations in new platforms.

Meaningful participation in Twitter's public arena, as in any other, boils down to the basics: understand your client, understand their market, understand the different audiences, and offer real value to everyone using the right tools for the right jobs at the right times.