Those of you familiar with Facebook already know what a ‘poke’ is in that context. For the uninitiated, a ‘poke’ is the equivalent of a wave across the office, a hello, a “yoo-hoo! I see you!” or a “hey, you know what, thinking about you.”
It’s used either when you don’t actually have a full idea to share/thought to articulate or to be cheeky; akin to someone looking at you, sticking out their tongue and both of you giggling. A pull of the pigtails, a tap on the shoulder, then walking away – with a smile, mind you, and a hint of a “hey, engage me on some level.”
Those of us who use Facebook as part of our social media “strategy” (or probably more apropos: our “Procrastination Strategy”) have become accustomed to this even more fly-by way of connecting with people. Now that we have included Twitter in the buffet of staccato communicating choices, what’s a poor tweep to do when all we want to do is poke?
Earlier this morning, I got a friendly ‘poke’ from @GDGeek to which @VicTriviaQueen replied “Twitter totally needs a poke equivalent. Maybe a Flap or Flyby to tie it in with the bird theme?” @GDGeek had some ideas: “Maybe a “buzz” (low-flying bird) or a “squawk”"
I thought about this… twoke wouldn’t work. Twickle? Twouch? Twab? Twush?
My reply?
“I kinda fancy the term “goose” ;)”
After some social proof of approval for the term, I hereby announce that we can all start goosing our twitter friends.
So this morning I “entered” a contest that started with Urge Tattoos. At almost 40 years old a tattoo has been on my informal bucket list for a while, and I figure at my age, I can now get away with it ;).
There are several of us there that have been spamming imploring friends to help with ‘entering’ which consists of them “liking” Urge’s Facebook page and writing “I nominate Jodie Anne Gastel for a free tattoo, piercing or removal at Urge!”. That is great – friends have gone that extra mile to help me with my ever-quieting subversive behaviour. There is a bit of a feeding frenzy and energy is high – we are excited!!!
Then I saw this: All entries must be in by midnight August 31st.
Wubba?
That’s an eternity in Internets. IMHO, if you wait that long, you will have lost the buzz. The buzz is now – conceivably, they could have already held the contest, picked a winner, done the tattoo and posted the pictures by the end of today. A sense of urgency in a short period of time will get you more ‘likes’ with less energy spent. To keep a buzz like that steady over 4 weeks isn’t impossible, but they’d have to have someone working at it every day until then. Not a lot of SMEs have that type of time to give in-house.
So what’s the takeaway from this?(Other than everyone in the world should talk to me before doing anything ;) ) We need to take a close look at why internet-based contests are run, what the desired outcome is and weigh the work needed to maintain a buzz over the long term vs. a bright burst – you might find that you get the same results with either.
Thank you to so many people who have shown an interest in how Dustin is doing as well as the progress that is being made. I have been working with the family to organize a few things including this new website;
http://www.DustinLaFortune.com
There you can sign up to be sent updates, subscribe to the RSS feed, learn how to help and find the Twitter account.
Thanks everyone!
Thank you to everyone who has been able to help so far.
At the request of the family, the donation option in this page has been removed. I am told that there will be a proper trust fund set up at a later date. Please see the following links for more information:
Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
Buzz