All good fun, but it took up quite a lot of time. The rewards were there, sort of, but I didn’t quite seem to be getting good value. If I spent the same amount of time emailing my contact list, or (shock) posting out letters then the response was far superior.

So why bother?

Twitter is an exceptional thing. Fast-paced, often entertaining and useful. Sometimes it can be a joy to be involved in.

Yet… somehow… there’s just something that doesn’t quite do it for me from a business point of view.

Yes you can pick up occasional clients, new contacts, partnerships and whatnot, but I wonder how many people who are so proud of their Twitter progress have tracked the number of hours they spend on it? Earning money is good, but value for money is better.

I could, of course, go the other way. Full-on automation. Sit down once a week and type up 50 Tweets that will get sent out at various times over the next seven days. That would probably work, and I know a few people for whom it does – or so they say, anyway.

But I just can’t be bothered. It feels a bit crap, and again it comes back to that question of value. I’m not really that fussed about being one of the herd – and sometimes you need to just enjoy yourself.

So I still do serious stuff. Well, a bit serious. Useful, free marketing advice. It’s just that I now only do that by email (over there on the right). This blog and my Twitter account – let’s enjoy it.