The Woods Coffee- Use of Social Network Sites

The business that I have chosen to follow is The Woods Coffee, which is a coffee shop based in Bellingham, WA. The Woods Coffee (TWC) is fairly new to social network sites, and uses Twitter for their online customer and employee interactions. They do have several Facebook pages, one for each of their different locations, but they do not seem to update them as much as Twitter, if at all. Still, I think that they are using social network sites effectively, at least through Twitter, and that they have invested a noticeable amount of time and effort into making social network sites a successful part of their advertising strategy. With a total of 2,507 Twitter followers, they seem to be doing quite well with social network sites usage, especially for a smaller business. As is evident from the readings we have done in class, this is a crucial practice for all successful businesses in today’s digital world.

TWC uses Twitter in a number of ways. Most evident is the fact that they respond to questions and comments that customers have left in a very timely fashion. For instance, a tweet from March 7^th states, “Coconut Almond Latte @WoodsCoffee! This place never ceases to amaze me! #bravo,” (Holowaty). Just a few hours later, TWC responded with, “ah thanks :)” (The Woods Coffee). Surprisingly, they responded just as quickly when customers posted criticisms, too. To me, this shows that TWC is actively watching their Twitter account, and making a strong effort to take advantage of this aspect of participatory culture. According to Henry Jenkins, “Producers who fail to make their peace with this new participatory culture will face declining goodwill and diminished revenues. The resulting struggles and compromises will define the public culture of the future.” (Jenkins, 24). So, I believe that they are effectively using Twitter to benefit their advertising strategies by interacting regularly with customers in an online, participatory environment.

But, they do not use Twitter for customer interactions only, they also use it for friendly advertising. A tweet from March 10^th states, “Don't forget to set your clocks ahead tonight! And when you're tired in the AM due to lack of sleep, we will greet you with a smile :)” (The Woods Coffee). Not only are they giving a friendly reminder about daylight savings, but they are promoting their business at the same time. Unfortunately, this friendly demeanor and active communication does not translate to their multiple Facebook pages, which remain fairly empty and out of date. Not a single one of their Facebook pages was updated during the time that I followed them online. This is something that they should definitely consider fixing. Henry Jenkins explains that convergence culture, and the spread of information across multiple media platforms is essential, stating, “In the world of media convergence, every important story gets told, every brand gets sold, and every consumer gets courted across multiple media platforms.” (Jenkins, 3). This seems to speak to TWC because they, like all other businesses, want their brand to be sold and their story to be told. By spreading their communication across many platforms (including physical advertisements such as flyers and posters), they would surely increase sales for their company.

Despite their lack of involvement on Facebook, I still found that TWC makes a concerted effort to promote a friendly, neighborly persona to their Twitter followers. Much like the tweet that reminded followers to set their clocks ahead, TWC uses cordial language and a very positive attitude on a regular basis. A tweet from March 18th states, “We have the best customers. Just thought you'd like to know. We win.” (The Woods Coffee). This came after about 24 hours of no questions or comments. TWC’s constant attention to their feed seems to show that they post cheerful tweets both as a way of thanking their customers, and as a way of keeping their Twitter feed active. So why do they fail to do the same for their Facebook accounts? Well, according to Danah Boyd, “Self-presentation on Twitter takes place through ongoing ‘tweets’ and conversations with others, rather than static profiles” (Boyd, 4). This helps to shed some light on why TWC might be using the communication features available on Twitter, rather than those on Facebook.

Besides, TWC seems to have no trouble connecting to their audience, and they seem to have a good idea of who their audience is. Connecting to customers and other employees seems to be the main focus of TWC’s Twitter involvement. These people can therefore be considered their imagined audience. However, I would argue that they probably make up the majority of the actual audience as well, seeing as there are many responses from customers and employees visible on TWC’s Twitter feed, and very little from other people. Still, this does not mean that these are the only people viewing their Twitter account. Again, Danah Boyd comments on this issue by saying, “Given the various ways people can consume and spread tweets, it is virtually impossible for Twitter users to account for their potential audience, let alone actual readers” (Boyd, 4). I, for instance, am reading the TWC Twitter feed but I am not an active customer or employee. TWC most likely has no idea that someone like me is reading their feed, so they do not consider me a part of their audience at all. So, I would agree with Boyd in saying that there is no way for an individual to know who is viewing their public Twitter account, but I still think that TWC is reaching out to the appropriate imagined audience.

Overall, I would say that TWC uses social network sites very effectively, but only because of their Twitter usage. Still, even their choice to use only one social network sites seems to have been done consciously. TWC chose the social network platform that can offer them the most customer interaction, and to that end I think that they have made a wise choice. They respond quickly and courteously to customers, and even answer employee questions. Even so, they manage to keep their Twitter feed varied so that it does not look like the only communication they do is in reference to customer complaints (which can look very bad for a business). Over the course of the time that I followed TWC, I became more and more impressed with how they used Twitter to advertise and communicate, and I believe they will have no trouble at all keeping up with the rapidly changing pace of the digital world in the future.

Works Cited

Boyd, Danah. “I tweet honestly, I tweet passionately: Twitter users, context collapse, and the imagined audience.”New Media & Society (2010): pg. 4, Web. 14 Mar. 2012.

Holowaty, Jacques (jholowat). “Coconut Almond Latte @WoodsCoffee! This place never ceases to amaze me! #bravo,” 7 Mar. 2012, Tweet.

Jenkins, Henry. Introduction: “Introduction: Worship at the Altar of Convergence,” Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. (2006). Pg. 3, 24, Web. 14 Mar. 2012.

The Woods Coffee (WoodsCoffee). “ah thanks :),” 7 Mar. 2012, Tweet.

-“ Don't forget to set your clocks ahead tonight! And when you're tired in the AM due to lack of sleep, we will greet you with a smile :),” 10 Mar. 2012, Tweet.

-“ We have the best customers. Just thought you'd like to know. We win,” 10 Mar. 2012, Tweet.