To Tweet, or Not to Tweet?

You can’t turn on the radio or read the newspaper without hearing some mention of Twitter, one of the fastest growing social networking sites, allowing short posts comprised of 140 character limits.

The question on everyone’s mind is ‘What is Twitter and why should I care?’
I can’t make your mind up on if you should care, but I can at least provide some insight.

Myths and Mysteries
My first reaction to Twitter was an absolute “NO”. I could see no reason for anyone to know what I was doing at all times. Don’t get me wrong, I love the social networking sites like LinkedIn, MySpace, and Facebook, but I don’t want everyone knowing what I am doing at all times. That is a whole new level of stalking that I am not ready for. (You CAN end sentences with prepositions. Your teacher was old and lied to you.) But, being too quick to judge, I found out that Twitter does not have to be the ultimate stalking tool. You don’t have to be the self-centered ‘Twit’ who posts about their daily grind!

How Can Twitter Help Me?
As I added valuable friends, which I consider as professionals in my industry and peers whose opinions I trust, I realized that their posts were not a 24hr fest of ‘Naptime over- now it is time for a trip to Half Price Books.’ Ok, so one of you DID post that, but I didn’t mind.

What I found from my friend’s posts was a time-delayed chat room of ideas and news. Professionals, teachers, friends, family, and members from professional societies posted their 140 character tweets on helpful writing websites, interesting news blogs, funny quotes, and book recommendations. Warning: Reaching 140 characters is not a hard task. Visit websites like TinyURL to shrink your long URL to only a few characters.

Feeling silly for my first post, “Writing…” I realized that I needed to try something a little bolder. So, I posed a question asking for free PowerPoint templates. I immediately received emails from two friends! Granted their responses were not on Twitter, as it is intended, I still received the answer I needed!

How Can Twitter Help My Company?
Consumers are getting smarter. Outbound mediums like commercials and spam are not applicable to all of your audiences. I know when I have a question about a product/service I will use my favorite search engine to find the answer. Companies beware— your consumers are not only looking at your website, but now a second option—Twitter! What is better than reading testimonials from the manufacturer’s website? Reading consumer reviews directly from the buyer’s mouth, sans the helpful copyediting from the marketing department. Completing a simple search in the Twitter toolbar on the bottom of the webpage, you can search for anything and probably find it! Example, as I am writing this, I am using the Twitter search tool for every other commercial that appears in the background. Sure enough, there are tweets on each product I have searched for!

Use your company’s voice and post the positive. Follow Twits who have something in common with you and your company to create some form of mutual bond. Beat the competitor to the punch line. Create a loyal readership by ‘following’ your ‘followers’.

Are you ready to spread your wings and tweet? Learn the best way to build your account.

Disclaimer: The thoughts contained in this post are mine. I wanted to share my one cent (sorry the economy forced me to cut back). Tell me what you think about Twitter. Do you or your company use Twitter? Why or why not? Speak up on Social Media. Testify!

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