Tony Michael

December 29, 2010:

This all started as a test... 

I've had @TonyMichael for over 2 years now,
and I just created @TonyMichael2 - here's why.

> The Problem:

I find that people on twitter who @reply a lot are GREAT at interaction,
which is what twitter is all about.  However if I want to read what is going
on with them, I can never find those posts because they are buried in a
sea of @replies to other people. Many (if not most) I have no interest
in reading about, nor am I interested in what their conversation is.

I've also assumed (you have to be careful with that) other people might
feel the same way. Maybe they want to read my posts, but they don't
care about many of the conversations I have with other people.  

So...
How do I still send those messages without cluttering up my twitter page?

> My Solution:

Make a 2nd Twitter account.  This way I can @reply to people all day long
about things the 25,000+ other people following me might not care about
and not clutter up my main page.  And for those who DO want to read every
little message, it's all still public under the #2 account.

I WISH Twitter had this function built in to their platform, the ability to separate
"posts" vs. "@replies" so I wouldn't need 2 accounts, but as of now they don't.

That's why I have @TonyMichael and @TonyMichael2.

I still do some @replies from @TonyMichael, the purpose wasn't to stop
@replies all together, just to cut down on clutter.  So about 90% of my
replies I now send from @TonyMichael2.

I actually got this idea from @Hootsuite.
They have:

> @Hootsuite:
Is where they post what is going on with their company, and...

> @Hootsuite_Help:
Is where they send all their replies to questions from customers.

Take a look:

http://twitter.com/hootsuite
- Has 2,100+ tweets.
Specifically about topics I would actually care about

http://twitter.com/hootsuite_help
- Has 25,000+ tweets.
Most of which I do NOT care about, and would never want to see!

If they didn't have the 2nd account, those 2,100 relevant tweets would
be lost in a sea of 27,000 tweets that didn't concern me OR 95% of the
people who want to know what's going on at their company.

> My Goal:

My goal was to keep my Twitter stream as relevant as possible for the
largest number of people, and still interact publicly with everyone the way
Twitter is intended to be used.

> Will this prove to be a good idea?
- I hope so, but I don't know.

1. Worst case scenario, my idea flops and I go back to using one account.

2. Best case scenario, my idea becomes so popular that Twitter recognizes
my sheer genius and hires me as a platform consultant to roll our their new
integrated dual stream platform and I am credited for changing the face of
social media for ever.

I'm pretty sure one of those two scenarios will be the outcome.

PS: If @Biz is reading this, I only want 10% of Twitter for my awesome idea.

PPS: Anyone else, I'd love to hear your feedback.  Tell me what you think!

> Link to this page:
http://bit.ly/Why_2

 _______________________________________________________________ 

*** Update ***

I just saw an article on Mashable with a study that proves my theory right! 

> Link to full article:
http://bit.ly/TweetEffect-Mashable 

_______________________________________________________________

*** Update #2 *** 

Looks like Twitter was listening?

18 months after my post of this article Twitter launches
"View profiles with or without replies".

> June 19, 2012:
http://blog.twitter.com/2012/06/new-way-to-experience-profiles-with-or.html