In a recent article, The Times’ media writer David Carr is convinced (as am I) that twitter will endure. He gives simple reasons why this is so. Besides being incredibly easy to use, twitter’s stingy character limit is actually a blessing for fostering readable text, and as more subscribers enlist (almost 100 million accounts currently) this micro-blogging service grows more useful by the nanosecond.
When I started exploring twitter about a year ago for a corporate client, reactions to my efforts were about the same as a parent commenting on baby’s first finger painting masterpiece–“Tha’s sooooo nice, sweetums.”
Now, the words enterprise and social media can be used together in serious company. Sofgware vendors –read Salesforce.com–are testing the idea that tweets can be monetized and turned into leads and new sales.
There’s more tangible evidence of twitter’s acceptance by business. During this past holiday shopping season, major retailers such as Best Buy, Staples, Gap, and Toys “R” Us were busy posting special discounts on their twitter page.
Here’s my favorite quote of an executive willing to go on record about twitter: Greg Ahearn, senior vice president of marketing and e-commerce at Toys R Us said that twitter is “ one of the greatest emerging communication channels out there….. people can stay connected with the brand in a way they’ve never been able to before.”
I know… hype cycle. But it’s looking to me like twitter and social media will be as essential to the business world as email. In other words, it would be unthinkable not to have it.