I had a hunch this was going to happen.
While the media trumpeted the arrival of Warren Buffet on Twitter, I wondered aloud if he would have staying power.
To help his onboarding process – communicating in staccato-like bursts can throw off the most brilliant of minds – I even crafted 20 evergreen tweets that Warren could stockpile and use as he got the hang of the social media platform.
It didn’t help.
After an encouraging start of two tweets in two days, Warren has gone “twark” (new word blending Twitter + dark) even with a third tweet surfacing last week.
How could this happen?
How could Twitter bamboozle a man who in spite of his wealth still enjoys Cokes, a good steak and Dilly Bars?
I considered the time demands on Warren. Every time a financial institution goes “kaboom” – a fairly regular occurrence these days – it can prompt Warren to whip out his abacus and go into number-crunching mode for days.
I also considered the possibility that he’s not comfortable with the social media platform. His first tweet was promising with a touch of assertiveness, “Warren is in the house.” Unfortunately, his second tweet defaulted to barking out orders, “Read my new essay on why women are key to America’s prosperity.”
After hypothesizing enough to fill 20 linear feet of white board, I wondered if this might be a “rich guy” thing.
With this in mind, our crack research team captured the Twitter accounts of the four individuals who join Warren (4) in rounding out the Forbes list of the five richest humans in the world: Carlos Slim (1), Bill Gates (2), Amancio Ortega (3) and Larry Ellison (5).
Unbelievable!
When you lay out the five Twitter accounts side-by-side, a pattern emerges (I think they call this “small data” analysis).
With the exception of Bill Gates, we find four of the five richest men in the world absolutely struggle with Twitter.
It does appear to be a rich guy thing.
Knowing “celebrity” endorsements deliver cachet to the Twitter brand, I have an idea to turn this around.
I’m thinking Jack Dorsey should ask Bill Gates to conduct a webinar on Twitter best practices specifically for the Forbes Billionaires Club. Such a move seems fitting in light of Bill’s essay last week, “Three Things I’ve Learned From Warren Buffett.”
It’s time to give back.
And Warren, my offer still stands. I’d welcome serving as your “Carol Loomis” for Twitter.