If you roam the twitter-in-Kenya streets often, the #TwitterBigStick hashtag is no new phenomenon to you. Based on the Big Stick ideology(via Mark Kaigwa), and coined by Sunny Bindra, its use has involved calling out overlapping tendencies by diplomat cars, school buses, privately owned and public service vehicles(whose license plates have been tagged;a dime a dozen they are), to critiquing poor bank service.
(Image courtesy of Motioncore.com)
I,for one, have had very mixed feelings about its efficacy, but I also appreciate its effectiveness in eliciting response/feedback from corporates. However, its limitations glare at me, and being one to envision all-roundedness and sustainability, I felt the need to rope in Sunny into a twitter dialogue, not the first time, but to gauge how it fares. I noticed that he often has to retweet most if not all #TwitterBigStick mentions, and it made me wonder how dependent it all is on him. (There also is #TwitterThumbsUp to praise good service)
Below is a recap of the dialogue;archived at the request of many, including the participants. ( The following has been made possible by an awesome new(ish) feature by twitter: embed tweets. It enables you to capture tweets, and twitter conversations generated via the ‘reply’ button, and export them via HTML(for widget format), shorcode or links. Read more on how to make use of this useful twitter addition here.)
DISCLAIMER: This might be a bit lengthy, will interject it with some side notes here and there. There might be what seems like repetition of tweets; limitations on how to export the conversation.
The genesis of the conversation:
@NiNanjira Certainly the ones that follow me…there’s a high response rate.
— Sunny Bindra (@sunnysunwords) April 12, 2012
An interesting response/testimony to how #TwitterBigStick’s influenced an offline company:
@NiNanjira @sunnysunwords.. My co. Isnt on twitter. s/one complained & a “samaritan” sent the tweet to our contact centre.
— Wamuyu Wanjohi (@MuyuRocker) April 12, 2012
@NiNanjira @sunnysunwords people like me who are online alert them. They normally respond faster as they are not sure what implications are.
— Kui Irungu-Macharia (@LornaIrungu) April 12, 2012
@NiNanjira …point is to get people to raise their voice and get in the habit of demanding service and value…
— Sunny Bindra (@sunnysunwords) April 12, 2012
Lorna Irungu then shared her use of the hashtag to inform companies:
@NiNanjira @sunnysunwords people like me who are online alert them. They normally respond faster as they are not sure what implications are.
— Kui Irungu-Macharia (@LornaIrungu) April 12, 2012
@sunnysunwords indeed, not about perfection. But it sure is about efficiency.
— Nanjira Sambuli (@NiNanjira) April 12, 2012
@NiNanjira Yes, for now. So be it. It’s a demo, not an end-product. All movements need drumbeaters.
— Sunny Bindra (@sunnysunwords) April 12, 2012
@NiNanjira …who is doing it any which way he can. Main aim is to increase awareness and comfort levels of ordinary person
— Sunny Bindra (@sunnysunwords) April 12, 2012
— Sunny Bindra (@sunnysunwords) April 12, 2012
@NiNanjira @sunnysunwords For me it’s about using a platform effectively. Then allowing it to evolve. At that point it’s about users.
— Kui Irungu-Macharia (@LornaIrungu) April 12, 2012
‘Real experts’ would be dedicating numerous resources to analyse brand sentiment in an ecosystem that’s still very formative @sunnysunwords
— Nanjira Sambuli (@NiNanjira) April 12, 2012
@NiNanjira @sunnysunwords I think the onus is on those on the other side of the Tag to share their feedback not on the creator.
— Kui Irungu-Macharia (@LornaIrungu) April 12, 2012
@NiNanjira @lornairungu So let organizations come on board and manage the interaction, like early adopters have done.
— Sunny Bindra (@sunnysunwords) April 12, 2012
@NiNanjira I see a business gap there to create a new research company that can collect the data. @sunnysunwords had provided the platform.
— Kui Irungu-Macharia (@LornaIrungu) April 12, 2012
At this point, I roped in Muthoni Maingi, who recently wrote an article sharing her thoughts on the hashtag and its use. Click link for article….but be sure to come back here, it just got interesting! 🙂
@NiNanjira @noniemg @lornairungu The hashtag is not the point: marshalling people to express genuine frustration is…
— Sunny Bindra (@sunnysunwords) April 12, 2012
@NiNanjira @noniemg @lornairungu Hashtags help generate the sentiment, the raw material. You take over from there.
— Sunny Bindra (@sunnysunwords) April 12, 2012
@sunnysunwords @NiNanjira @lornairungu They do not ‘help’ collect sentiment, the sentiment if in existence will automatically be picked
— Muthoni Maingi (@NonieMG) April 12, 2012
No sir, KEYWORDS, not hashtags help generate sentiment! Unless it’s a brand-specific hashtag! @sunnysunwords @noniemg @lornairungu
— Nanjira Sambuli (@NiNanjira) April 12, 2012
How to mine my brand in a hashtag covering anything,from crisps to registration plates?@Nikhil_Hira @NonieMG @sunnysunwords @lornairungu
— Nanjira Sambuli (@NiNanjira) April 12, 2012
And a hashtag with multiple complaints is a data mining nightmare, not a solution.
— Muthoni Maingi (@NonieMG) April 12, 2012
@Nikhil_Hira @ninanjira @sunnysunwords @lornairungu This is tech, it’s factual, it’s not an opinion thing. That’s the beauty of online.
— Muthoni Maingi (@NonieMG) April 12, 2012
@NonieMG @nikhil_hira @ninanjira @lornairungu Does it matter how they do it? Convince everyone there’s a better way, I’ll join in.
— Sunny Bindra (@sunnysunwords) April 12, 2012
@NiNanjira @nikhil_hira @noniemg @lornairungu Not at all. But grab their attention in the first place.
— Sunny Bindra (@sunnysunwords) April 12, 2012
@Nikhil_Hira @ninanjira @sunnysunwords @lornairungu Nobody should have to go through the torture of complaints that aren’t related to them
— Muthoni Maingi (@NonieMG) April 12, 2012
The consumer is sovereign, no doubt, but focus on ways to expedite their grievances @Nikhil_Hira @sunnysunwords @noniemg @lornairungu
— Nanjira Sambuli (@NiNanjira) April 12, 2012
I think it raises awareness to consumer rights at this ‘nascent’ stage, but as with online trends,it may plateau.. @sunnysunwords @NonieMG
— Nanjira Sambuli (@NiNanjira) April 12, 2012
Can we agree that as far as an awareness regarding #consumerrights, the hashtag’s doing a decent job? @asayf @noniemg @sunnysunwords
— Nanjira Sambuli (@NiNanjira) April 12, 2012
but as far as upsetting the ‘norm’ of one-sided communication: B2C, effectiveness remains to be proven @asayf @noniemg @sunnysunwords
— Nanjira Sambuli (@NiNanjira) April 12, 2012
Berating? No. Molding? Yes. Why should an infant die from foreseeable circumstances? @sunnysunwords
— Nanjira Sambuli (@NiNanjira) April 12, 2012
@NiNanjira @noniemg Better still, meet in the real world? Happy to host you both to talk it out. Will DM email address.
— Sunny Bindra (@sunnysunwords) April 12, 2012
@NonieMG @ninanjira Let’s agree we’ll all tweet our impressions/conclusions once we’ve met. Should stay in public domain.
At times, it got a bit intense!— Sunny Bindra (@sunnysunwords) April 12, 2012
Berating? No. Molding? Yes. Why should an infant die from foreseeable circumstances? @sunnysunwords
— Nanjira Sambuli (@NiNanjira) April 12, 2012
I am very proud, @NonieMG and @NiNanjira that we kept that debate lucid and civil. Many don’t, resort to personal abuse.
But all’s well that ends well…or at least resolves to continue at a later date, but leaves things on a good note.
— Sunny Bindra (@sunnysunwords) April 12, 2012
@sunnysunwords @NonieMG @NiNanjira your debate just redefined the essence of engagement for trackable results. Kudos.
— Mr Steve Biko Wafula (@SokoAnalyst) April 12, 2012
“@OleItumbi: @sunnysunwords @SokoAnalyst @NonieMG @ninanjira i have loved that debate too – Highly mature” Agreed and intelligent too.
— Sara Mitaru (@saramitaru) April 12, 2012
