I’m on Facebook yesterday, and someone in my feed linked to this New York Times story about Woody Woodpecker and modern art. Pretty cool. So while I’m on the story, I click the link to share in my Twitter feed.

Share in my Twitter feed with a click or two? Nope: I have to create a TimesPeople account — which is pretty much modeled after HuffPo social news, but the experience (so far) is pretty awkward.

For example, after I create my TimesPeople  account using my Twitter account, I click on my account name to see what sort of profile information is there. TimesPeople asks me to re-enter my password. Ummmm, I never entered a password in the first place; are you asking for my Twitter password? (I don’t really want to share it here.) Maybe, but it’s not at all clear: My account name is the email address connected with my Twitter account, not my Twitter name, so maybe the password you’re looking for is something else entirely.

I’m sure the kinks will be ironed out over time, but right now spreading TimesPeople content to your friends is harder, not easier, than the average share.

Takeaway for marketers: It’s all about making it as easy as possible. You want to give people dummy-proof simple tools for spreading your message. You don’t in any respect want to create barriers to spreading that message.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 11th, 2011 at 7:43 am and is filed under Internet Stuff, Marketing Takeaways.