Does your company or office utilize social networking sites? No? Ever heard of Twitter? Why on earth would a respectable business allow their employees to use a tool like Twitter, or Facebook? Well, the truth is that many businesses are now taking advantage of the power of social networking sites. If you are not familiar with Twitter here is an overview:
Caroline Middlebrook’s blog “What is Twitter (Twitter Guide Part #1)” states: “Twitter is many things to many people but what often goes unnoticed is that it can be an incredibly powerful marketing & community building tool with the ability to develop your brand, build relationships with your audience and provide a promotional medium that has the ability to go viral!”
What is Twitter:
According to the Twitter FAQ, “Twitter is for staying in touch and keeping up with friends no matter where you are or what you’re doing.” That doesn’t really tell us very much. Wikipedia says, “Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send updates via SMS, instant messaging, email, to the Twitter website, or any one of the multitude of Twitter applications now available”.Twitter asks the question, “What are you doing?” and allows you to send a small update (limited to just 140 characters) to your followers. The concept is amazingly simple and that is perhaps one of the main reasons why it has caught on like wildfire. The restriction to 140 characters has resulted in Twitter being labeled “micro blogging”. A traditional blog is a log of what somebody is up to, but in a richer, more detailed format. One of the key benefits of Twitter is that you can send and receive updates (also called tweets) via your browser, email , instant messaging clients and SMS so you can keep in touch no matter where you are.”
So, how can Twitter affect your business productivity? Recently a friend of mine left a “Tweet” letting me know he was looking for a print designer. I responded with a reference of someone that my company utilizes for logo and print media design, along with an e-mail, so he could contact that individual. He
later responded with a ‘thanks’ to everyone that helped, and he had some great new contacts. This is an example of the power of a ‘micro-blog’. You can connect to hundreds of people in an instant, with a question, request or a unique piece of information.
Check it out, stick with it for a month or two and see if you achieve ‘increased productivity’!
Happy Tweeting.
Jason
Yes! Great article, Jason!
I have long seen the social advantages to twitter, but to see the aspects of its use in business is phenomenal! Keep up the good work!
Tom