MediaPost News has an interesting piece saying that more than half of all Twitter users – 56 percent – use the social communication site for business purposes, which the story says “suggests the service's value as a business-to-business marketing platform, alongside its emerging utility for consumer marketing.”
The story suggests that Twitter is being used two ways by businesses that range from Starbucks to Best Buy – they are “reaching out with promotional messages,” and using Twitter as a “listening engine” with which they can gauge consumer reactions and trends.
Twitter also is a way for employees to communicate back and forth – protected by the cloak of anonymity – about the companies they work for.
The story suggests that Twitter is being used two ways by businesses that range from Starbucks to Best Buy – they are “reaching out with promotional messages,” and using Twitter as a “listening engine” with which they can gauge consumer reactions and trends.
Twitter also is a way for employees to communicate back and forth – protected by the cloak of anonymity – about the companies they work for.
- KC's View:
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I have to admit to being conflicted by Twitter…I find it interesting to peruse and there is hardly a day when I don't get an email advising me that someone is “following” my Twitter updates. At the same time, I find it an almost impossible black hole to fill.
Still, it makes sense for companies and businesspeople to be playing with such technologies, just to figure out what makes them work. It is a pretty good bet that there are more than a few companies out there that have blocked sites like Twitter, thinking that they are just a waste of time … but that’s the wrong attitude. These can be opportunities, not distractions, if you have the right approach.
