Twitter genius? Kanye West is a self-sustaining social network.



Contributing Writer
Twitter Genius Photo: Naphlion Credit: Gölin Doorneweerd - Swijnenburg


Twitter is an alchemy of links, spam, and conversation.  Yet one celebrity transcends the pedestrian constraints of the medium: Kanye West.

Kanye West is a rapper, producer, fashion designer, and dates the most popular Kardashian.  He has 8.5 million followers on Twitter, and follows just one person (the aforementioned Kardashian).  He’s talented, eccentric and wealthy.  Did I mention he’s eccentric?

Kanye’s Twitter history

West is gregarious, dynamic, enigmatic celebrity… and he has a history of random Twitter posts.  Comedian Aziz Ansari does a couple of fantastic bits about him, especially West’s great appreciation of his own talent.  Here is an example of his social observations:

 

 

The Kanye-Kanye b**** debate

So the other day, Kanye tweeted a question: he wanted to know how people felt about the use of the pejorative “bitch” in rap songs.  He continued to tweet answers to his own questions without replying to anyone.  Kayne may have been #eastwooding before it was popular.  It was bizarre and compelling…. but not in a good way.  Here’s a sample of the monologue:

 

 

Bizarre?  Absolutely.  Insightful?  Absolutely not.

What Kanye’s Twitter monologues teach us

It’s worth examining why we see Kanye West’s Twitter behavior as eccentric.  It’s because there’s no interaction.  It’s notable because he’s a celebrity, but it’s not unusual.  People create latent content everyday.

I’ll go through my news feed or Twitter feed and see so much go unacknowledged, and that’s where there’s an opportunity to connect with people.  Many businesses see these tools as a way to interject content into the collective conversation without participating in the conversation.  Businesses that are going to achieve success with social media (however they measure it) are going to have to realize how contextually absurd it is to be like Kanye West.

If you sell millions of records, clothes, and are dating one of the most compelling celebrities in the world people will consume your content without reciprocation.  For the rest of us: there is ample opportunity to engage.  In fact, it’s expected.

Jim Dougherty

Jim Dougherty

Writer and chief of miscellany at leaderswest.com

I aspire to give people something to think about rather than tell them what to do. My favorite Google Alert is “social media research,” I am increasingly compelled by Gen Z, and I appreciate good writers agnostic of where they write. At one time I was Kred’s 12th most influential social media blogger and Klout’s most influential person on the topic of David Hasselhoff. Transplant from Seattle living in Cincinnati. Haven’t entirely adopted the local sports teams yet.

Jim Dougherty

@jimdougherty

Writer about social media and tech at Leaders West, I also tweet as @leaderswest.

Infographic: Is the value of Foursquare overstated? http://t.co/X6SwuqLLcD – 11 hours ago

Jim Dougherty

Jim Dougherty

  • http://socialmediasun.com/ Adam Justice

    One of my Twitter followers asked me what I thought of this article, and my sentiment switched so much when I got to the moral, that I felt like adding my 2 cents. It’s easy for a social media blogger to ring the engagement bell, but from what I know about the most popular Twitter accounts and personalities (social media aside), they’re more inclined to use it like Kanye with sparing 2-way conversation (maybe 10% of their entire stream) than they are to use it like a public text messaging app. I was absolutely loving this post, with the reporting on Kanye and the clip, until I got to the social media kool-aid. Kanye West is a terrible example for telling people they need to engage; you know, how no one wants to hear what he has to say, and people are dying to send 2 way tweets to you and me because we reply?

    I think you’re overlooking the actual intended use (and the way average users still use it) of Twitter here though – it’s meant to be (and is more effective as a business platform in most cases) used exactly like Kanye West uses it. Broadcasting. A feed that represents you. You’re supposed to transform your own experience and insight into 140 character gold. You can be way more effective from a branding and marketing standpoint when you use it like a Micro blog, and not like a 2-way (or 4-way) public text application. When you give in to the urge to turn Twitter into a two-way conversation, you’re neglecting all your other followers. Engaging every follower in 2 way conversation isn’t feasible, and it’s not an efficient use of time for the majority of businesses. You can develop a medium sized community with the investment of thousands of hours using the platform (and a bunch of redundant use because you’ll run off more followers than you ever attract when you keep turning it into a 2-way radio). It’s very limiting too; those mid-sized communities have a hard time growing past mid-sized because they do not have a mass appeal.
    The branding that you can develop by micro blogging will put you in rare company of products like Jones Soda, Red Bull, Apple, Nike, Starbucks, Taco Bell and Kanye West. Companies that have a personality. The first form of micro blogging was those soda lids that have short sayings on them. It let you know that this soda is slightly irreverent, very cool, and witty even if you’re not. Twitter lets every brand in the world send out short sayings on bottle caps. Did you demand a response from your bottle cap? I think you’ll find that average users don’t demand a response from Kanye either, even if social media bloggers tell them they should. You can cater to whole movements through Twitter – it’s powerful enough to turn a local product into something that sells all over the country, simply because people identify with the brand. I’ve saw it happen with humor, fitness, inspiration, pet communities, technology, and several other niches. You can @mention someone, and still be considerate of your entire following when you tweet – you can’t use Twitter like text messaging though, and that’s what I hear when I hear engagement on a social media blog.
    Kanye’s monologue should teach you this: that celebrity is much more valuable than following people on Twitter. Instead of spending hours chatting on Twitter, you can write a book no matter what niche you’re in, increase your credibility, and increase your celebrity. Content is king, and 140 character micro-blogging can be compelling and interesting content. Spend 10 minutes a day becoming the next @shitmydadsays, not 3 hours a day @ replying everyone in your stream, contributing to an unsustainable strategy that doesn’t have the lasting impact of micro blogging.

    Since I wrote a whole article debating yours in your comments, you can put be down for a guest post on your blog (you gotta choose the topic though) if you’d like, to re enforce that I am trying to contribute here as much as I am disagreeing. I thought this was a much better way to give a comprehensive opinion, rather than just Tweeting my follower “Didn’t like the end. Too much social media Kool-Aid”. I feel like I’m being a hypocrite because a lot of my feed is Triberr tweets and a few responses, but the business and technology following I’ve developed isn’t branded as clearly as it could be. I can see the cost too though, users unfollow me when I let it go too long without creating some fresh new tweet that is a more clear representation of my personality than a Triberr re-tweet.

  • jimdougherty

    Adam, appreciate your thoughts. I think you make a valid point that people will use social media differently, but what’s special about social media (particularly Twitter) is the accessibility. To argue that it’s a broadcast medium diminishes how it differentiates from other media. If that’s all it is to you then great. There’s no debate. People use Twitter differently. But for every vapid celebrity post, there are examples of people engaging (on a small scale) and creating a moment for their fans. There is that opportunity at scale for anyone to accomplish that. If you dismiss that as “social media kool aid” so be it. You may just be too big of a celebrity to get my point. ;) Again, I appreciate the time you spent to draft that! Cheers!

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