Twitter: Extending the Enterprise

Twitter, a micro-blogging technology, has proven that much can be said in short messages–known as Tweets. Many people say that Twitter is too short, that the 140 character limit is to limiting. Ernest Hemingway proved long ago, when he wrote a complete work of fiction with just 6 words, that a great deal if information can be packed into the right turn of phrase. His story of only 30 characters making up 6 words is:

For Sale: Baby Shoes, Never Worn.

This is not a happy story, but that is not the point.

A well written tweet can be complete–containing the essential information. Twitter gives the Enterprise another channel to use for client contact. Twitter, however; is an actual two-way communications channel. Twitter provides the Enterprise a way to communicate to everyone that has chosen to follow them, and it provides a means to clients or prospects to contact the Enterprise.

If you are looking at using Twitter as a new and dynamic communications channel remember the following:

• Those that wish to follow choose to do so for their reasons. You cannot force people to become followers.
• Those that choose to follow can just as quickly stop following you. Followers do not want a flood of tweets. Choose what is really important from a customer’s view.
• Do not ignore tweets that are sent to your Twitter account. Just as e-mail needs to be monitored, so does Twitter.

Give Twitter a try. If it works, great! If not…well at least you have shown your clients that you are willing to try new technology to improve communications and to extend the Enterprise.