Networking is one of the oldest and time tested means of getting direct referrals and furthering a business. Take this to the internet age and you have social networking sites geared towards building your own networks online. One of the most widely used networking services is Twitter. Twitter is a social networking service that enables users to send and read other users updates known as tweets. It is a great way to keep in touch with your friends and quickly broadcast information about where you are and what you are up to?
Twitter began as an experiment in the 2006. When it was used as an instant media for sharing information in situations like earthquakes, conferences, and festivals – twitter got a lot of popularity. Hence Twitter, Inc. was founded in 2007. Today, Twitter is a privately financed company based in San Francisco, CA. Tweets are messages you send on your profile page up to 140 characters. These are seen by your followers or the people you are following. You can restrict a tweet to a group of people or open it to all within the circuit.
You can use and send tweets via the Twitter Website. You can also use Mobile Phones SMS (short message service) service to post and see the tweets. This service is free of cost but using it on the mobile would have the service providers sms cost involved.
Why Twitter?
In a podcasting company named Odeo, Mr. Jack Dorsey put across this idea keeping SMS services in mind to share information with friends and strangers. So the working name initially was Status. But this did not sound very appealing and after a lot of brain storming they came up with the word Twitch (because the phone kind of vibrates when it moves or got a message). But again twitch did not sound too great and after looking up the dictionary that they came up with the word Twitter which meant a "short burst of inconsequential information," and "chirps from birds", which was exactly what the product was. Here the name Twitter arrived.
Twitter and your Business
People use twitter to create, discover and share ideas with others. Now, people are turning to Twitter as an effective way to reach out to businesses.
For a business, Twitter can be used to
o Broadcast a company's latest news and blog posts
o Interact with customers
o Enable easy internal collaboration and group communication
You can
o Join industry and topic groups related to your business and career on sites like Twibes, and WeFollow
o Join Twitter chats related to your industry or business on a regular basis.
o Stay in touch with friends and colleagues. Sometimes a friend or a colleague can help you out and get you some valuable business.
o Get and give referrals.
o Recommend other Twitter users to your network including reasons to follow them – by sharing goodwill you will encourage others to reciprocate.
o Do not post your tweets all at once, spread them all over the day.
o Help people with their problems if you can and share tips related to your business.
o Report any interesting information related to your business world / industry with your comments.
o Link to articles and content posted Elsewhere with a summary of why it's valuable.
o Post original thoughts on your topic, industry and business.
o Share what you're doing so people learn about the type of work you do. Do this on occasion rather than all day long.
Some interesting ways companies are using twitter to promote services and products:
o DELL has created a number of Twitter profiles, each intended for different types of deals (eg Dell Outlet posts recent refurbished Dell computer offers).
o STARBUCKS posts new offers and also participates in threaded discussions of these offers with their Twitter-followers.
o WHOLE FOODS MARKET requests what their clients like to read and watch, recommends new food podcasts and invites them to the company upcoming events
o BEST BUY HAS BUILT GINA COMMUNITY to communicate with their customers and friends
o ATTNEWS updates their Twitter-followers of the news published at the site
o BREAK POINT posts updates of the company and industry news and also discusses it with their Twitter-listeners.
o FORD posted the company internal news on twitter
o SAMSUNG has created a Twitter account dedicated to mobile phones and posts both the company (US department) and product news there.
o KODAK CHIEF BLOGGER both posts the company blog updates and discusses them with the company customers.
So if you find this interesting and useful for your business log on to www.twitter.com and become a member of the most widely used social networking community and enjoy interacting and making new friends.