I have been on Twitter for four long years now. It has been an interesting journey and I have clocked nearly 32,000 tweets in the process. In Oman, Twitter was an unheard social media entity until a couple of years back, and thanks to the Arab Spring, the medium really caught the fancy of local netizens. In 2011, people jumped into Twitter bandwagon to follow updates on Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen and the likes.

Local tweeps or Twitter users are growing by the day, and tweeting on a variety of topics ranging from technology to traffic updates to food to weather. I do follow quite a few interesting tweeps in Oman, and interact with them on a regular basis. The best thing about Twitter for me is the pace at which the news breaks. It is only later the print, online media and TV channels pick up the leads and go in-depth into the stories. Well, like it happens with citizen journalism, it is always advisable to take breaking news stuff with a pinch of salt due to the credibility factor.

Another good thing about Twitter is that you can engage with like-minded folks who share similar interests like you. Over the years, I have been to many tweet-ups (informal gathering of Twitter users) in Oman. Meeting people offline is a different experience altogether and I should acknowledge that I have met some really nice people and quite a few off-putting types in the process. For many, Twitter becomes an addiction – they are on it from 6am till 12am 24×7. Once they are addicted, they want to prove their worth, attract more followers and end up doing stupid things to be in the limelight. I know some people offline who are active on Twitter, and I must admit that sometimes their tweets sound so unreal and doesn’t sync a bit with their real life personality. It is so easy to fake larger-than-life image on Twitter.

I do like a lot of tweeps from Oman, India and elsewhere who constantly keep me entertained and informed about the topics I like. But, I think blogging is any day better than Twitter in terms of having meaningful conversations with knowledgeable people. Thanks to Twitter, many happening bloggers have either stopped blogging or blogging once in a blue moon just to keep their blog alive. After ignoring my blog for a couple of years, I have now realised that nothing can come close to charm of blogging. It may be old school, but it is still very relevant. Ask Google search.

(My Twitter handle: @KishorCariappa)

Although I am in the business of press releases and public relations, I find it difficult to digest the fact that a few banking, telecom and automotive companies in Oman believe in dishing out press releases to local media nearly every day. I always wonder their PR strategy (or lack of it) behind such a move.

Why do companies insist on being in the news 365 days? Here are my guesses:

1.    They give regular ads and it is only fair they take advantage by giving out daily press releases.

2.    They need to keep the customers informed about every important to silly things happening in the company.

3.    They have an in-house PR team, and they need to make full use of their services.

4.    PR services have been outsourced, and the agency has brainwashed the client to be in news daily. The agency does this to justify their huge billing.

5.    Our competitors are in news always, so we better stay ahead of the competition in terms of press releases.

6.    Brand building happens with daily mentions for the company.

7.    Management team of the company wants their photos to be flashed in newspapers regularly.

8.    Reader is a donkey. He/she will read any crap printed in the newspapers/magazines.

As a reader, if a company dishes out daily press releases, I wouldn’t be able to differentiate their important announcement from mundane ones because of brand fatigue or overkill. Why would I waste my precious few minutes reading an 800-word PR on a new car model or a 650-word PR on excitement building over a bank draw?

You might have the best of resources to write press releases or you might be a big time ad spender, but what is the use of press releases if the readers choose to ignore the news?

Dear companies, sometimes step into readers’ shoes. It helps.

This job ad appeared in a local weekly a few days back.