Twitter is an easy way to interact through short 140-word postings. The brief nature of Twitter classifies it as a microblog. Users can “follow” other people or corporations at a more personal level than other social networking sites such as Facebook or Myspace. Professionals say that this is the new trend in Web 2.0. However, I found myself doubting it as a business tool and believe it to be more of a stalking device.
After much skepticism about the practicality of using Twitter as a business tool, I decided to do some research and find out what it’s really all about. My observations concluded that when used properly, Twitter can give corporations an innovative edge with their various publics. If you would like to learn more in-depth information about using Twitter for your business check out media mogul, Rodney Rumford’s blog titled “Twitter As a Business Tool”.
Rumford offers great advice as to how to maintain a Twitter microblog. He also shows how other businesses utilize Twitter to get their news and information out to the public. I found a great video on his site that discusses how Ford maintains various forms of social media in order to reach various publics. One of these media tools is Twitter.
Whether you are interested in Ford trucks, going green, or customer service, there is a Twitter account for it. By segmenting into different Twitter accounts, Ford can more directly reach and interact with their audiences. Business should take a tip from them and consider splitting up into multiple, more concentrated accounts if using Twitter is a route it decides to take. This split will help define how best to interact, what type of voice, and who connect with.
I agree with you about being skeptical about Twitter. It does seem like a stalking device and basically just an away message or status update on Facebook. I guess if all businesses are on Twitter though, it’s a way to update each other on what’s going on in each other’s companies. And if you were truly invested in a company or held stock in it or something then it would be valuable to follow the company’s Twitter account.
I really liked that you incorporated that video of execs talking about the effects of Twitter on their company. I still feel like companies are just jumping on every opportunity to social(ly) network, and since Twitter is an outlet, they are using it. We should wait a little longer to see the effects of Twitter before using it for all companies. Good inside look though! I liked learning about how companies use it.
I really enjoyed how you chose to devote a blog post to using Twitter with your publics if you are looking at communicating using new social media from a business standpoint. Personally, I agreed with you in the beginning that Twitter seemed to be nothing more than a stalking device, and I still have not set up a personal Twitter account. However, I do understand that there are various benefits to using Twitter to promote a corporation. For the followers that are on Twitter, it is a great place to get short news bits and promotional information out about your company, and is also a great place for starting conversations focused around your business.
I thought it was interesting that Ford segmented itself into several Twitter accounts. I can understand why if you had a Ford it would be beneficial to get updates from the company about your particular type of car. This goes for any company that you use and would like to keep updated on. I actually think it’s more beneficial to follow companies on Twitter than it is to get updates on your friends. Like we’ve all said before: why would we want to follow our friends on Twitter when we have so many other ways to stay connected to them? However, there are only so many ways we can get information about a company like Ford. It seems like it would be nice to have that information come to you through Twitter, rather than having to go out and find it yourself.
I agree with finding it interesting that Ford segmented its Twitter accounts because for a corporation trying to communicate to many different publics, it makes sense to segment their different publics who would follow them. I am also skeptical about whether Twitter can be effect communication and I think that its really just a novelty because it seems to be difficult to post stories and information in 140 characters. That would mean that a reader would have to go searching for more information that was interesting to them which seems to be much more difficult and not as intuitive of a social media tool.
I agree with you Colleen. While Twitter is innovating ways that corporations communicate with their publics, I think some can jump into it too quickly without really needing it in their business strategies. I will be very interested to see how Twitter is used by companies in the next few years as well as how they measure its success.
Good point, Elaine.
I think it does make more sense to use Twitter to network and follow companies versus following your friends. You can easily see that via. Facebook.