I attended a great local business conference the other day here in Oklahoma City. Afterward I received a followup email indicating that I should put my Twitter address on my card.

Why would I do that?

As great as Twitter is it is FAR from the way I want people to communicate with me on a primary basis. I hand out business cards so you can communicate with after we meet in person. In my opinion Twitter is an amazingly inefficient way to “talk” to somebody. It is a great way to START a conversation. But if you are going to talk about anything at length or build a personal/business relationship take it off Twitter ASAP and get it on the phone or to email. As cute as 140 characters is you cannot get across any good or in depth information this way. If you and I were to talk this way face to face we’d get out about one sentence a piece. Tell me how great your day is in one sentence. Tell me how great your business or product is in one sentence. Most people would be challenged.

Am I dogging on Twitter? Far from it. If you look at the number of updates I have you will see that I cannot shut up on Twitter. Twitter is great for lite social chatting. Its use has gone well beyond the “What are you doing right now?” business model. But I also take a lot of my conversations to DM/Email/Phone very fast if I want any depth. If somebody says to me “let’s explore this opportunity more” my next message back is a DM with my phone number and/or email address. As a business you should be using this medium as a way to drive people to someplace where you can convert them (your store) or have a more extensive conversation with them (in person, phone, email). It should be your backup/support system of communication that drives people to better forms of communication.

Twitter is good for:

Saying what you are doing. Short advertisements. Starting conversations. Getting out CollegeHumor links. Posting real time news for local areas. Arranging happy hours fast. All of these are general queries to the public at large that need short answers or links back to respond. Some of them are just broadcasts that need no response.

Twitter is bad for:

Carrying on long or in depth conversations. Arranging social engagements. In depth customer support. Expressing emotionally how you feel about something. Making business deals. Giving in depth product information to potential customers. These are topics that need multiple sentences and multiple paragraphs to express your point.

I am curious as to what your thoughts are on this. Am I way off my rocker here?

(I also think this applies to the other networks FB/LI)

Update: Just to clarify – I’ll write it on the card if I am asked. That is why my new cards have a lot of white space on them. I am just not getting any new cards printed with that on there.