so i have been angry at starbucks for not sending me a sample of via, their new instant coffee product that sounds like it is an economy car or even a very healthy, whole grain vegetarian food for pets. you may wonder, why would starbucks be sending me a sample? well, i sent a few tweets asking. nothing happened. no response.
know why?
starbucks requested permission to ‘follow’ me on twitter and i kept on deferring the decision. i thought that they would collect marketing data by listening to my tweets of pain, happiness, boredom, consumerism. they would pass my words through their special new media filtration system and generate reports, lists, tendencies, theories about my likes and dislikes. they would discern all kinds of information about me and i did not want that to happen. not unless they were paying me.
not only are they not paying me, but i am paying them. every time i buy a drink, i am paying them to participate in their brand. and the coffee is good, too, but nobody should be paying that much for a damn cup of coffee. so, anyway, i did not allow them to follow me.
then yesterday i realized: they are not getting my tweets if they are not following me because my updates are private. that is, unless you receive my individual blessing, you may not see my tweets. so, i am an idiot. here i am being mad at them when they don’t even _know_ that i want some samples.
i have granted them permission and let them know about my wishes. we’ll see.
Filed under: coffee, instant coffee, sample, starbucks, tweet, twitter, via, coffee
