Making people and ideas findable
Using Twitter for Business Communication
If you have not heard of Twitter, chances are you will soon. Twitter is a communication tool that allows individuals and organizations post small updates which can then be seen by "followers" of that person or organization. Followers can choose to receive Twitter updates via the web, instant messenger, or text message. Twitter is free and it takes a few minutes to create an account.
So how can Twitter be used in business? It's a very popular tool for connecting people in a social setting but more and more businesses are using Twitter for business communication, as well.
Technical Status Messages. Twitter can be used to convey information about the status of systems that customers rely on. A great example of this is the way that 37signals uses Twitter to broadcast updates on system outages on their products (such as Basecamp, which is used by SpinWeb). If Basecamp is down, 37signals sends out a quick "tweet" which says something like "Basecamp is down for about 10 minutes... we are working on getting it up and running as soon as possible. Sorry for the problem!" This nice little message is delivered to my cell phone which quickly keeps me in the loop so I know what's going on. It's quite handy.
Product Updates. Another great use of Twitter is to send product updates. For example, if your company writes software and you release a new version, you can send out a quick message announcing this and encourage your customers to download the latest version from your web site.
Blogging. You can connect your Twitter feed to your company blog, which means that whenever your write new articles and post them to your web site, they will be announced on your twitter feed. Everyone who is following you will then see a note about your new blog post.
Public Relations and Media. Media professionals can use Twitter to send real-time updates from events that they are covering. Hosting a fundraiser? Post updates on money raised throughout the night. Covering a political rally? Post notes and developing stories.
Remember that most Twitter users receive updates via text message directly to their cell phones. This makes Twitter a very powerful way to communicate instantly to a large group of people. Careful and thoughtful use of Twitter can supplement your business communication in a very efficient way.
Interested in following SpinWeb on Twitter? Look us up and become one of our followers by clicking here!
Author: Michael Reynolds
Michael Reynolds is President and CEO of SpinWeb. His background includes information technology, design and branding, organizational productivity, and web marketing. In his spare time, Michael enjoys tennis, sushi, and his iPhone. Contact Michael at michael@spinweb.net or 866.SPINWEB x1200.
So how can Twitter be used in business? It's a very popular tool for connecting people in a social setting but more and more businesses are using Twitter for business communication, as well.
Technical Status Messages. Twitter can be used to convey information about the status of systems that customers rely on. A great example of this is the way that 37signals uses Twitter to broadcast updates on system outages on their products (such as Basecamp, which is used by SpinWeb). If Basecamp is down, 37signals sends out a quick "tweet" which says something like "Basecamp is down for about 10 minutes... we are working on getting it up and running as soon as possible. Sorry for the problem!" This nice little message is delivered to my cell phone which quickly keeps me in the loop so I know what's going on. It's quite handy.
Product Updates. Another great use of Twitter is to send product updates. For example, if your company writes software and you release a new version, you can send out a quick message announcing this and encourage your customers to download the latest version from your web site.
Blogging. You can connect your Twitter feed to your company blog, which means that whenever your write new articles and post them to your web site, they will be announced on your twitter feed. Everyone who is following you will then see a note about your new blog post.
Public Relations and Media. Media professionals can use Twitter to send real-time updates from events that they are covering. Hosting a fundraiser? Post updates on money raised throughout the night. Covering a political rally? Post notes and developing stories.
Remember that most Twitter users receive updates via text message directly to their cell phones. This makes Twitter a very powerful way to communicate instantly to a large group of people. Careful and thoughtful use of Twitter can supplement your business communication in a very efficient way.
Interested in following SpinWeb on Twitter? Look us up and become one of our followers by clicking here!
Author: Michael Reynolds
Michael Reynolds is President and CEO of SpinWeb. His background includes information technology, design and branding, organizational productivity, and web marketing. In his spare time, Michael enjoys tennis, sushi, and his iPhone. Contact Michael at michael@spinweb.net or 866.SPINWEB x1200.
Add a Comment
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Comment by Michael Reynolds on November 10, 2008 at 10:48pm -
Matt,
Thanks for re-posting my blog post! And thanks for all the comments ;-)
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Comment by Nicki Laycoax on November 10, 2008 at 1:51pm -
@Matt Don't forget about Michael's love for Salsa Dancing that I wouldn't have known about if it hadn't been for Twitter! :)
One thing that I want to add to the text message portion of your post.. When one first starts out on Twitter, it can be very easy to get turned off by Twitter if you receive a text message for each friends updates. Use caution when selecting whose Tweets you decide to receive via text or you can get an overload of messages, and it then becomes more of an annoyance than a resource.
I only receive one person's Tweets via text, and they don't Tweet much, so it's not too bad...
If you are wondering how to control the text updates you receive:
Log in to your Twitter acct
Click Settings
And from here you can do two cool things;
a)Click on the "Devices" tab and control the times in which you receive texts
b)Click on "Notices" and control what types of messages you receive.
To control who you get device updates from:
You can click the radio button under the people you follow on your home page that says "Device Updates" off if you don't want to receive any at all.
And, you can click "View All" under the people you follow, which brings up a detailed list of your friends, and select "On" or "Off" on the radio button for each person.
Hope this helps!
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Comment by Nicki Laycoax on November 10, 2008 at 1:39pm
- @Lou.... While at first I thought that sounded cool, I then thought about the security factor.... So many MySpace accounts get hacked, I'd hate to have my Twitter get hacked, and pay someone that shouldn't be getting paid. Do you know of the security measures that are in place?
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Comment by Lou Begnel on November 10, 2008 at 12:24pm - One more application (in beta now). One of the companies formed during the Atlanta Startup Weekend allows you to make payments via Twitter. The company is called Twitpay and you just say @Twitpay $1 to @roundpeg from your Twitter and it credits their Paypal. Not sure exactly how it works but in theory it could be huge.
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Comment by John Uhri on November 10, 2008 at 9:55am -
Don't forget that Twitter allows you to put a personal face on a business. This is probably the biggest benefit of Twitter, in my opinion. I'm much more apt to do business with a company if it feels like it is run by human beings.
http://twitter.com/y0mbo
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Comment by Matt Howell on November 10, 2008 at 9:51am - Thanks for the resource Lorraine! :-)
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Comment by Lorraine Ball on November 10, 2008 at 9:39am -
Good suggestions. For more, check out Darren Rose blog - http://www.twitip.com/defining-twitter-goals-a-tip-for-successful-use-of-twitter/
There is a reason he is a pro-blogger
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1. Please use your real name (first and last) when you sign up, or we cannot open your account
2. Please do not use logos or commercial images for your profile photo
3. Events should be posted in the events calendar
4. You can post pretty much anything you want on your own personal page (self promotion, etc), and you can change the style of your personal profile page to reflect your corporate identification if you so choose.
5. Please keep all comments civil and polite. It's OK to feel strongly about a subject, and it's OK to be critical of ideas, but please refrain from personal attacks of any kind.
If you witness or experience any issues, please contact admin@smallerindiana.com and we will look into the matter.
6. Smaller Indiana is supported by its members, and by corporate sponsors. If you're interested in learning more about sponsorship, please call Pat Coyle at 317 332 7878.
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