An Analysis of @drchrisdrew on Twitter
Dr. Chris Drew, @Drchrisdrew, is a genuine person who creates an authentic persona through twitter and his personal blog with the goal of expressing himself and marketing his product called Pocket Literacy. He is a beacon for excellent professional behavior online. His tweets and posts are consistent with good business practices principals, ethical sales, and promotion methods. In a web full of people trying to sell themselves and their products, @drchrisdrew does a great job of being authentic and upfront about himself and his motivations while ultimately working to achieve his own goals.
Social media users don’t want newsfeeds cluttered with fake people trying every way possible to promote their self interest. It is so easy for people in a position which it benefits them to market themselves and a certain product to become spammers. @drchrisdrew is far from a spammer. He has maintained a twitter for over a year and a half with over 580 tweets gaining 168 followers. It is clear from the beginning of his Twitter feed that @drchrisdrew is a passionate intellectual who is active in the education community. From his second tweet of all time he introduces the notion that he is marketing a product, but he is not throwing it anyones face and does not even put out what the product is until later. He ends his first tweet with “Get crunk!” this is awesome! It gives a taste of his enthusiasm and personality. Although he was talking about a “Public Schools Parent Coordinator Executive Committee meeting,” he stays authentic and doesn’t guard himself or act fake.
Though not at all exclusive, at or around about 65 percent of @drchrisdrew’s tweets are about education and or @pocketliteracy. It is important to notice that not one of these tweets says anything remotely near “buy @pocketliteracy or any other direct marketing tactic.” Tweets are shaped to draw interest and convey his enthusiasm to people. Statements like “Sweet interactive media using sms and apps for viewers to choose content!” and “How pumped am I?” Check this out and you’ll see.” are good examples of his marketing. He engages his audience without seeming too fabricated or inauthentic.
Another aspect of @drchrisdrew’s twitter that lends to his authenticity is his displayed capacity for human error. He is not a machine, he is human like the rest of us and has errors in his tweets yet still leaves them up. For example the link to his wordpress blog is not listed on his twitter profile, it is simply mentioned in one of his posts. It is not hyperlinked and thus readers have to manually copy and paste it the old fashioned way. This is hardly the characteristics of someone trying hard to market a product or themselves. The way he doesn’t act to remove the errored post and repost it says a lot about his character. One can only guess if he simply doesn’t notice or just doesn’t care. It is ironic and funny that in a personal blog post of @drchrisdrew’s titled “Building an Infrastructure: The Small Things” he points out that “A misplaced comma could cost you a million dollars” yet he still doesn’t take the time to correct his tweets or delete and repost them. This lends to the humanity of his twitter and a readers desire to connect with him.
@drchrisdrew posts other things that highlight his authenticity and friendliness. A tweet with the upfront statement “A friend is branding a product, would love to have your votes on the new design for @drinkvitaminbeer” is a great example of his upfront and authentic style. The directness of the tweet and the fact that it supports a “friend” and product that he seems to have no attachment to greatly lends to his ethos in the minds of readers. The fact that Dr. Drew took the time to tweet about a friend with no relation to his personal motivations is a great example of his authentic style. Friendship is important online, you are no one without “friends” and “followers.”
Many tweets also build on Dr. Drew’s intellectual credibility. He often post about politics always in a way that is consistent with his authentic style. For example, on May 2nd, 2011, Dr. Drew tweeted “In class and on campus not a word was uttered about the bin Laden news. What to make of this?” This tweet is great. It tells readers that he is current on world news and when other assumed intellectuals in a place of education don’t address major news he is concerned. On mothers day he post a heartfelt tweet addressed to “all the loving mama’s of the world.” This is great for him on all levels. It displays good ethos, humanality, genuineness, intelligence and appreciativeness. He is also active in conversation with people often tweeting replies to peoples tweets he follows and unrelated to business or self promotion.
@drchrisdrew is a great example of an individual who has achieved great duality online. He is able to express both his business marketing goals and personal goals/opinions while maintaining a high level of authenticity and likability with his readers. This is no easy feat.
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