MicrobloggingBy Monique Ross

Microblog ServiceTwitter is a

It is the simplest form of blog. But in simplicity there is often great power.

“ A microblog differs from a traditional blog in that its content is typically much smaller, in both actual size and aggregate file size…microbloggers post about topics ranging from the simple, such as ‘what I'm doing right now,’ to the thematic, such as ‘sports cars.’”

--Wikipedia

A Few Microblogging Services

And, of course…

Twittering is an easy method of communication: you can share information with people that you wouldn't normally exchange email or IM messages with, opening up your circle of contacts to an ever-growing community of like-minded people.

Twitter has many uses for both personal and business use. It's a great way to keep in touch with your friends and quickly broadcast information about where you are and what you're up to

For business, Twitter can be used to broadcast your company's latest news and blog posts, interact with your customers, or to enable easy internal collaboration and group communication.

Did You Know That…• 600 new tweets are created every

second? (Twitter)

• 10% of Twitter users account for 90% of all activity? (Harvard Business School)

• The more followers you have, the more you tweet? (Sysomos)

• Brazilians are the second largest population of Twitter users? (Sysomos)

• Ashton Kutcher, Britney Spears and Ellen DeGeneres each have more followers than President Obama? (Twitterholic.com)

Twitter allows you to Publish Everywhere

32 million members300 million

members

44 million members

1 billion daily views

6 million daily visitors

50 million members

10 million members

1 million daily visitors

1.5 million daily visitors

US; 40%

Japan; 23%

Brazil; 4%

Ger-many;

4%

Taiwan; 2%

Spain; 7%

Canada; 4%

Italy; 3%

UK; 6%

France; 4%

Nether-lands;

3%

Twitter Users by Country

International Flavor

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RT @copyblogger Revised AP style guide http://bit.ly/bvnPDV

New entry on my blog: http://bit.ly/bvnPDV

@JasonFalls do you like @Backupify? I've heard of it but never from someone I trust who uses it.

We just launched a new product! http://bit.ly/bvnPDV

It’s snowing in Austin and raining in New York. Something’s wrong!

Info tweet

Retweet

Help tweet

Postman tweet

Smiley tweetYou tweet

Six Types of Tweets

• Branding• Hiring • Traffic building• Professional networking • Publicity• News• Feedback• Peer relations• Competitive tracking• Mobile visibility

Uses For Twitter in Business

$

Don’t… Flame or use abusive language Repeat personal or confidential

information Talk about your gambling,

drinking or other after-hours exploits

Complain about clients or colleagues

Repeatedly send the same tweet

Twitter is public and searchable. People are

listening!

Terms to know Tweet: A single Twitter message of 140

characters or less Profile: Your Twitter persona, including contact

info and 160-character profile Follower: Unilateral relationship in which a

person chooses to receive all your tweets Public Timeline: The globally visible Twitter

stream @Reply: Public response to a single user that is

directed to a special inbox for that user. Also appears on tweetstreams of that person’s followers

Retweet: Twitter message forwarded to another member’s followers

Tips from the Experts

a. Alternate between something relevant to your business and something irrelevant. Comments on the tax season can alternate with notes about my passion fruits coming into season.

b. Add “Follow Me on Twitter” to your emails, web site, and other communications

c. Focus on one or two of your followers a day. Spotlight something about them in a tweet. They’ll notice.

1. Be useful. Be helpful. Be an authority

2. Demonstrate you know your market

3. Promote your work thoughtfully4. Share links and knowledge

• Don’t follow too many more people than follow you, or you risk looking like a spammer.

• Find other companies that are similar to yours and follow them. Their customers will start following you.

• The smart way to market on Twitter: Don’t. Instead, provide value to others.

• Always be positive. The quickest way to get me to stop listening to you is to constantly complain.

• When the people you are following put out a tweet for help, answer back. Don’t let the it die in cyberspace.

• If you ask for a RT (retweet) leave at least 15 characters so people RT’ing your message don’t have to shorten it.

Excerpted from “137 Twitter Tips: How Small Businesses Get The Most

From Twitter” by Small Business Trends (@smallbiztrends)

Tips from the Experts

Advanced Tools Direct Message – Essentially a

short, private e-mail (Both parties must be following each other).

Hash tag – Text string that categorizes a tweet’s relevance to a theme. Examples: #fail, #tigerwoods, #obama, #macworld. Useful in organizing and trending

Auto reply – Controversial practice of sending automated responses to new followers

Use Hash Tags To…

Find people with similar interests

Create conversations around a brand or event

Create structured online events

Monitor topics of interest Discover new sources

and information

Word to the WiseTwitter has a very open architecture

This is both good and bad

A lot of Twitter apps don’t work or deliver questionable results

404 – Caveat Emptor

Just don’t expect too

much

Engage with the Experts

1.7 million followers

1.2 million followers

1.1 million followers

980,000 followers

473,000 followers

Building your follower base• Follow people you admire• Comment upon and retweet

their messages• Include their Twitter name• If they follow you, thank

them• Ask for advice, input• It’s occasionally OK to ask

for a RT• They know they’re

important; don’t abuse the relationship

Checking out "Facebook and Health Ads" on @WEGOHealth : http://ning.it/93dQ6z

Tweeps: I'm in front of a college journalism class. What shld these students know abt social media.

RT @tshuttleworth: This is the golden age of engagement for book publishers. - Arianna Huffington #toccon

Broadcast Listen Engage

Twitter in Business

Primary Flow of Information

Primary Flow of Information

Conver-sation

• Publish recent news

• Advertise events, activities, products and promotions

• Automatically broadcast of events related to business

• Trend research based on analysis of Twitter data

• Ask questions, conduct market research

• Collect ideas, innovations and feedback from social network

• Customer service and retention

• Humanize brand, increase staff retention, build team spirit

• Expert exchange

Category

Action Category

ActionCategor

yAction

Informa-tional

Promo-tional

Informa-tional

Informa-tional

Informa-tional

Auto-matic

Informa-tional

Personal

Informa-tional

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