Having joined the Twitter phenomenon a little over a month ago, a relative late adopter - although beating 
Al Gore to the punch, I began by deliberately watching and ‘listening’ more so than actively participating. With the ever blurred lines between social and professional activities within networks I began as a ‘follower’ of Internet gurus, bloggers, personal friends, professional acquaintances, clients, retailers, developers, conference groups and the list goes on.
Tweets as they are called, in 140 characters or less, run the gamut from an incessant wait in line for one’s favorite Macchiato, to the ongoing play by play news feeds from the social networks, to a charitable initiative which raised several thousand dollars in a matter of hours. As in most social networks direct selling may still be frowned upon but the intermingling of messaging is rampid.
After all, if one has just Tweeted how to get their hands on a 2004 Dumol Pinot Noir Russian River Valley, linking to the purveyor is a mere suggestion for followers, right? A daily Tweet of the blog of an online retailer is just intended to make for interesting banter isn’t it? Perhaps, but undoubtedly with the growing number of corporate users added daily, whereever a group of people converge, marketers are sure to find them and find them they have.
One of the more intriguing and potential powerful Tweeting is on the presidential election. Obama followers are already 87,000+ strong. In the wake of Friday’s political debates, Twitter began running an ‘Election 08′ header with top themes and keywords. Throughout the debate the ongoing flood of Tweets were commenting in realtime as the debate unfolded. A vertiable ticker tape of conversation ensued. And as evidence of the further blurring between social, pop culture and political lines, Twitter’s Sunday morning’s ‘Election 08′ keyword header includes ‘Tina Fey, Saturday Night Live and Katie Couric’.
While some may view Twitter as just another friends and family platform for those with nothing better to do than post about their daily routines, with more than a million users and over 3 million messages daily, Twitter is growing as a powerful viral communication tool which undoubtedly is worth exploration for any business, group, organization, non-profit etc looking to connect, communicate and engage with others. Tangible ROI for the effort isn’t too far behind and at present, the only cost to participate is time.
Looking to learn more about levering online marketing and social media strategies? Contact the search, social media and marketing experts at GDMI.
