Do automated tweets add value or are they gimmicky?
This is a conversation I had recently when asked what I thought about Mattel’s Puppy Tweets, a “high-tech toy that will allow dogs to publicize their everyday activities on Twitter via a sound and motion sensor.” This toy has 500 programed tweets, ready to be thrown out at random and without the ability to be customized. What I dislike so much about Mattel’s Puppy Tweets is that you pay $30 to have your dog tweet things that Mattel wrote and approved for the device to say. You are paying to advertise for a company. But not all automated tweets are bad, it depends on who they come from.
Automated tweets have to be evaluated on an individual basis, based on the intended purpose, the target audience and whether it is promoting a product or not. Check out the below examples for my opinion:
Twibbots – This experiment was started by two buddies of mine from my former internship @chrissinchok and @jonsustar . They created a variety of robots gave robots a platform to interact with humans on Twitter (see this to read more). Their robots include:
- StellerSpeller
- ConciseAdvice
- OpinionMinion
- BirthdayClown
According to Jon Sustar, the purpose of Twibotts is “auto-generated amusement, since it effortlessly gathers funny responses.” (read funny responses here, here and here)
Analysis:
- Automated: Yes, with responses written by both Chris and Jon
- Intended Purpose: Amusement
- Does it accomplish what it set out to do: Yes. Their bots aren’t selling or promoting a product. They are simply correcting spelling, giving advice and wishing people a happy birthday. The reactions they receive are organic, even if the response from the bot is not.
Twike – This bike is fitted with a cell phone programmed to tweet out messages when it comes within rage of key areas of the East Festival, a festival in East London. I’m not sure if there is a point to this twike after looking at one of its automated tweets:
eastfestival #gpstweet – I am here: #twike arrived at east http://is.gd/9KqPp
Do people get anything by approaching the bike? Does finding the bike add to the experience of the festival? It is not clear from the Mashable article, the video that the London-based agency created, or the tweets themselves. If there is no purpose to the bike other then to announce it’s located at the festival, I’m not a big fan of this effort
Analysis:
- Automated: Yes and integrated with Google Maps
- Intended Purpose: To share Twike’s location with festival goers
- Does it accomplish what it set out to do: Yes, but so what? So I know where this kinda fun tweeting bike is. If this festival is so hopping, why would I want to leave whatever I’m doing to go find a bike? Like I said earlier, to my knowledge, the bike does not offer any cool incentives, prizes or anything of value to those who find it. Cool technology, great start to an idea but the end result is gimmicky.
Tweetingcatdoor.com – You must admit, the creator of this is pretty damn smart. He built a cat door that is hooked up to a server, a webcam and a bunch of other super-nerdy tech stuff that I can’t comprehend. So what does is so cool about this door? It tweets a message everytime one of his two cats goes in or out or the door and posts a picture. (You can check their Twitter account here @GusAndPenny ) Like Twibbots, the purpose of these automated tweets is to provide amusement. Also like Twibbots, this seems like an after work project that the creators began out of their own learning and fun.
Analysis:
- Automated: Yes, but written by user
- Intended Purpose: To bring amusement to people’s day. The creator probably also made this to see if he could actually do it from a technological stand point
- Does it accomplish what is set out to do: Yes. I don’t follow this user because after awhile, the tweets repeat themselves BUT it’s a good example of innovative, fun thinking from someone NOT selling a product.
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