UPDATE 2/1/09: Ok, I took the leap. Follow me here and read about my first impressions of Twitter here.
UPDATE 2/12/09: Ella and I met with Twitter co-founder and Chairman of the Board Jack Dorsey yesterday and had a really great talk… post is here
I have yet to take the leap to Twitter; I’ve heard some great things but am skeptical about involving myself in one more thing to maintain – email, a blog, a day job, facebook. Every day, though, I hear something new about why I should take the leap. The first pictures of the US Airways ditch into the Hudson River were cast over Twitter, a good time before they ever hit CNN, so it’s clear that information now travels at the speed of Twitter.
As I’m deciding whether or not to Twitter I’ve been researching how it could help my business and the things I would need to do to get a return on my investment (my precious time)
For those who don’t know: Twitter is a free social networking service that allows users to send and read each other’s updates (known as “tweets”) that are limited to 140 characters in length (think two sentences at most). At its inception in 2006, Twitter (then known as “Obvious”) was originally created as a tool to be used internally by the podcasting company, Odeo. Two years later, over 3 million individuals worldwide have Twitter accounts and the rate in which news spreads has shortened to, well, 140 characters. (Lauren Cook, Abraham & Harrison)
Here are a couple of the key articles that are helping to sway me toward using Twitter. These either provide a great introduction to Twitter or an argument for how to use Twitter as a tool for your business, which is what I’m most interested in. If you’re in the same boat as me and are still on the fence about whether or not to join, I suggest you give these articles a quick read, so that at least you can make an informed decision.
How to use Twitter as a Twool | Guy Kawasaki
Says Guy, “I may get more value out of Twitter than anyone else on the planet because I use Twitter as a tool—specifically as a marketing tool—for my website Alltop and my book, Reality Check. If the concept of using Twitter in a commercial manner interests you, keep reading. If it doesn’t, then you can continue to send and receive tweets about how cats are rolling over and the line at Starbucks.”
Twitter and Blogging: Tips and Tools | Soshable
Tips on setting up Twitter for your blog and setting up your blog for Twitter, followed by some general Twitter tips.
Twitter Tips for Beginners | David Pogue
A great high level introduction to Twitter filled with both interest and skepticism. In the end, David conceedes that Twitter IS a massive time drain and yet another way to procrastinate, but says it’s also a brilliant channel for breaking news, asking questions, and attaining one step of separation from figures you might admire.
Can Social Media Like Twitter Boost Your Lead Generation Results? | Brian Carrol | B2B Lead Gen Blog
The title makes this one self explanatory, and this is what many people care about: can social media help my business? The answer is almost always a yes so long as you take the right steps, and in the case of Twitter, Brian says yes as well.
As for me? I’m still informing myself and have yet to decide… though I have reserved my personal name, blog name, and a few other Twitter account names, if for no other reason than to prevent them from being swiped up a la domain squatting. So maybe that means something… or maybe it doesn’t.
UPDATE Jan 30, ’09: We jumped head first into the void yesterday. I’ll write about my decision and my experience over the weekend, but you can follow The Daily Anchor on Twitter here.
