Twitter has become the hottest and fastest growing social networking site since.... well, social networking has only been around for a few years; we'll just say it is the hottest and fastest growing of them all. Millions of Twitterers are tweeting on a daily basis, keeping their friends, family, co-workers, etc. up-to-date with their every move: "Jimmy is getting a coffee"; "Jimmy is in the car heading back to the office with his coffee."
Now news outlets have jumped on the Twitter bandwagon as a way to expand their reading audience. Traditional outlets become instant social media outlets. Now they can micro-blog about their latest article. CNN tweeted today: "Afghan President Hamid Karzai praises Obama's new plan for the war in Afghanistan at a press conference in Kabul." While NPR posted a tweet announcing it will stream Obama's announcement about the auto industry.
Of course tech outlets, mainly bloggers, have been using Twitter as an extension of their own blogs for some time now. TechCrunch, CrunchGear, GigaOm and a slew of others tweet about their latest blog post on their respective blog sites.
Even celebrities and tabloid news outlets are tweeting. Everyone from Shaq, Ashton Kutcher and his wife Demi, to Britney Spears and Borat are tweeting about their daily lives. Access Hollywood's micro-blog featuring the latest celebrity headlines is powered by -- guess who...
Twitter allows users of all types to interact with their target audience, whether that audience is your friend next door, old college roommate, consumers of your product or fans of your work/art.
From a business prospective, Twitter is basically a pot of gold- the ultimate way to capture and capitalize on the ever changing consumer appetite. Companies no longer have to hire expensive market research firms to understand their audience. They now use Twitter to get honest customer feedback, be it good, bad or just plain ugly. It is the best market research a company can use and get this: it's free.
Twitter not only provides companies with customer insight; it allows them to interact with their customers and give them an insider's look into the company and its culture and ultimately build better customer relationships.
So to answer the question: To Tweet or Not to Tweet? I think we just did.
Happy tweeting,
@KLRComm
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