by Christina Lee on August 26th, 2009
Who, what, when, where, why and how.
Journalists report those Five Ws (plus one H) of an event, then they end up reporting the full story. Small business owners answer those questions of a new venture, and they get the full story as well.
But for months, both are still trying to explore the full potential of Twitter. As of last week, this is how the story has developed so far, from a business perspective:
Who… is a Twanker and Twidiot? Both are people who use Twitter for impractical reasons, according to the Influential Marketing Blog – a Twanker, purely... Read more »
by Barbara Weltman on August 25th, 2009
Twitter, a real-time short messaging service created in 2006, now has an estimated 6 million users and is growing everyday. It is a vital part of the social media scene, so you should know how to use Twitter effectively for business.
Follow and un-follow
Twitter enables you to follow the postings of registered users on the site; they can opt to follow you. Is it impolite to not follow someone who’s following you? While many advocate for reciprocity, the reality is that following too many Tweeters can eat up time and obscure postings that would be meaningful to you. Do... Read more »
by Christina Lee on March 9th, 2009
Since its start two years ago, Twitter has certainly sparked a lot of conversation – both inside and out of its short messaging service. Starbucks, Zappos and Dell are just a few of the big companies that have figured out how to use it to their advantage. However, recently reported success stories actually come from small businesses.
For two local food businesses, Twitter has helped two local food businesses both raise and manage rising demand. One request for a breakfast wrap directed to Houston-based Coffee Groundz led to the first ever reported take-out order on Twitter, which are now taken... Read more »
by Christina Lee on December 8th, 2008
Q: Can social networking Web sites be useful for my business?
A: No longer focused on just individual users, social networking Web sites have been creating new tools that go beyond what basic feedback additions – a customer service e-mail, a product review feature, a blog – have done to humanize the online business transaction.
“Now it’s really about trying to connect emotionally, even in a business-to-business level,” said Brian Easter, CEO of web design and marketing company NeboWeb.
Since its launch in August 2006, Twitter has had web experts questioning whether a business would have any use for a... Read more »
by Rebecca Button on May 19th, 2008
I have beef with Twitter. To me, it’s an oddly socially accepted and encouraged form of stalking where the "victims" volunteer themselves.
Aside from the creepy factor, from its inception I have never really understood how thousands of people #1 care so much about what other people are doing that they would subscribe to and check instant updates via a personal feed, and #2 that said number of people actually believe that that many OTHER people care enough about their minute happenings so much that they’d consistently update these feeds.
Twitter’s usefulness has long been debated and I have clearly... Read more »
by Rebecca Button on January 24th, 2008
I’m all for instant access–to everything from entertainment news to directions from my TomTom. I mean, if I could have instant access to being showered and dressed every morning by pressing a few buttons, believe me, I WOULD. However, in this increasingly "instant" world we now live in, is there going to be a point when everything is so readily available that it just becomes too much?
Allow me to illustrate using a brand new business networking technique called "workstreaming." You’ve heard of blogging as a means of keeping customers, clients and visitors up to date on different goings on,... Read more »