I love twitter for what it is and not what new ages social media experts want it to be… another mass marketing platform. Sometime I long for the good old fashioned days where we picked up the telephone to talk to people……..

My take is based on how I use it: I follow very few by stream and very many by list. So, because I need to follow someone for that person to direct message me and because I think it’s silly to follow a person solely because that person wants to dm me, I’d rather tweet out my email address and request a message that way.

If someone is asking you to speak on a panel, he/she should go out of their way to make you feel confident about the discussion and any details you need to know. Obviously, this person is just unprofessional. If the person can’t take 5 minutes to send you a confirmation email (and a thanks!) what makes him/her think you should be comfortable speaking on a panel after getting no details?

Why do they keep offering to send you emails if they can’t make good on it? I think that makes them look pretty bad from a professional standpoint. I get that people are busy, but does it really take that long to open the lines of email communication with a brief email thanking you for your interest and providing details for the engagement (or even saying those details will be coming in another email)?

@Lex_D

You’re not overreacting. Adding you to the Web site without you confirming was presumptuous and unprofessional. Not following up in a reasonable time with an email was just plain sloppy and stupid. Not following up with an actual conversation is just plain lunacy. If you are SPEAKING at an event, knowing how you sound while SPEAKING is a minimum requirement. (even though you are the incomparable Shannon Paul :-) )

I worry that small, but important things are being lost; like knowing when a phone call is more appropriate than a tweet or text, or when a hand-written “thank you note” is more treasured than an email.

I heard Tim Gunn on Joy Behar the other night and he said something that will probably stick forever (paraphrasing) “It is important to navigate the world with respect and responsibility.” R&R is ultimately all we want as human beings, online or off. This person gave you no respect and took on no responsibility.

Introductions are fine but until you move it off of Twitter that is where the true value comes from. You really can’t help people with 140 characters no matter how many times you correspond back and forth.

Things get lost in translation a lot of times even with email. You need to be clear and concise and know what your goals are.

This should fall under the “of course” category. It’s frustrating that we still need to teach people the basics of business etiquette. But, we do.

No tool can replace the need for that person to have the right mentor to teach and help them learn how to become a thoughtful professional.

I worry that this fast-paced business environment is producing folks who are ill-prepared. It feels a bit like accidents are waiting to happen.

Bottom line, it’s important to know what you don’t know. And, if you’re a leader, it’s really important to take the time to teach.

You aren’t the slightest bit out of line to expect an invite to speak at a conference to be followed up with more details in an e-mail or offline. That’s just common courtesy, especially when you provided your e-mail to get more details!

Twitter can be an effective communications platform…but not in all situations. People shouldn’t get so accustomed to abbreviated dialogue that they assume it’s appropriate for all types of interactions.