There’s nothing more depressing than mediocre efforts to engage using social media. On any platform. Whether it’s setting up an automated direct message to feign interest, creating an empty/useless Facebook Fan Page, or blanket spamming an advertisement on Twitter based on keywords, half-hearted and generalized attempts at personal interaction are piontless and often obnoxious.

Without getting too much up on a soap box, I think lazy social media efforts are insulting to a customer’s intelligence and are disrespectful to the value of their time. There, I said it. So when I see sales outlets set up their Twitter account solely as a RSS feed for their website, I feel like it’s a genuine disservice. Which brings me to Woot.

Woot.com is one of my favorite online outlet retailers. Scratch that, they’re my definitely my favorite. They have built an entire business on creative and funny ways to interact with their consumer. Rather than put together a boring and nondescript product page for their sale items, they create a story for every single piece that they sell. It sets them apart (and far above) pretty much every other online outlet. So it’s somewhat puzzling that they have put absolutely no effort into their social media attempts. Their Twitter account is essentially a feed for Woot.com’s new sales.

Woot could easily leverage their 1.5 million followers on Twitter by offering specialized sales, promotional codes or time-based offers, but instead they choose to leave their account general and bland. It’s unfortunate that such a creative and forward-thinking company does not come up with a better way to monetize their (obviously) valuable social media presence.