I can’t tell you how many times this example has been thrown my way, as a challenge to the relevancy and purpose of Twitter.
“I don’t care what you had for breakfast!”
“Why would I care what someone had for breakfast!”
Why breakfast? I wonder.
Of course the people tossing out the Most Important Meal of the Day with the bathwater haven’t experienced Twitter and so, I struggle to find the most polite way to tell them they have no idea what they’re talking about.
Of course Twitter users are tweeting about more than their bagels and schmear or their $5 lattes. But let’s say, for fun, that for a day, everyone on Twitter tweeted their breakfast. Now that would be VERY interesting to those people over at Dunkin Donuts. And to the mom and pop coffee shops in your town. And to Eggo and to the billion dollar breakfast cereal industry. If all those breakfast-interested parties were also on Twitter they could ENGAGE with those Twitter users and ask them why they prefer, say, Bodo’s to Panera, or Mudhouse to Starbucks.
But you don’t really care about what your customers are thinking, saying and doing, huh?
On a personal connection level, say I’m tweeting my breakfast from a local coffee shop and learn that someone I know via Twitter only is there, or on her way there and at last! We will meet! And a friendship that had heretofore only been online, is now in real life and that is why we care what you’re having for breakfast.
marijean, this is a tremendous insight. Im really glad you wrote it. I’m tweeting it out – while eating a sandwich. 😉
Marijean, you are a delight – and I can’t agree with you more.
Here’s to people that get it, and to eggs over easy from Best Place Cafe in Long Beach, Ca.
Marijean,
Thanks to @jaybaer I found this post. I love it as well. It’s true. There is something for every business capitalize on (if you will) in every tweet.
Cheers 🙂
cool post. How ironic that I just heard of it from @jaybaer while waiting for another twitter friend @jmoriarty to meet me at for something to eat in Tempe. Yeah, this Twitter thing is over rated.
Thank you Marijean, for providing such a common sense reply to the complaint I hear most often. I can’t wait to see the light bulbs pop above readers’ heads when I pass this along. Keep up the great work!
Agreed. I also think that we’re on our way back to unsliced bread. Thanks so much for all the great comments!
i totally agree! what a sweet little insight.
i have made many new awesome connections because of my constant blabbing about food on twitter.
i love that a simple thing like breakfast can bring complete strangers together.
speaking of which – some chips and salsa are calling my name. so is a margarita.
*cheers!*
🙂
Very interesting take! I think it would be incredibly insightful for a lot of business segments. Or even something as mundane as Starbucks Venti doesn’t fit in my car’s cup holder.
If it’s relevant and interesting it passes the test. I’m an athlete, so I’m usually tweeting about what I eat, what my workouts are, and what I’m craving. But I tweet about a lot of other stuff too. Don’t know how interesting I would be if I did a breakfast tweet everyday. Maybe I should give it a go and see what happens.
Twitter, Facebook, and other communication channels are all about choices. I choose to care. I choose to listen. Time and money are valuable. Let us break bread together and share a bit of ourselves. More often than not, it’s the relationship that leads to the sell. It’s the friends who point you towards the best service provider or product. Don’t know about others, but finding the best quickly works for me.
Spot on! I am tweeting a link to your post.
MJ, This is gospel which I will pass on (through email) to my friends who just don’t get it since they will not see the tweet. Very well said!
I think you have only touched the tip of the Breakfast Contempt iceberg. The haters don’t even know why they’re hating. It’s dark in there, very dark…