01May

Twitter Demystified Or A One Trick Pony

Posted by Steve Renner as Blogging, Social Media, Twitter, Web 2.0

Twitter Demystified or a One Trick Pony? Here’s a cool article written by Linus Gregoriadis of @Econsultancy. So what else would you be talking about an an Internet Conference these days?

The burgeoning interest in Twitter was evident yesterday when several hundred people turned out for a keynote panel session at Internet World. Here is a summary of the question-and-answer session, with some additional pointers which might also be helpful.

Yesterday’s obligatory Twitter event on Day 2 of London’s Internet World conference (#IWTD) was an open Q&A session with a panel featuring Econsultancy CEO Ashley Friedlein, Kai Turner of Agency.com and Guy Stephens of Carphone Warehouse.

Former Revolution editor Philip Buxton, who was moderating, ascertained that the audience was split pretty evenly between those who “use Twitter and love it”, “those who use Twitter but aren’t sure about it” and those who “don’t use it”.

Despite the lack of a live, online demo due to technical reasons (the curse of too many internet conferences), there were some interesting takeaways from the panel session which I’ve summarised below with some paraphrasing, direct quotes (where my shorthand was keeping up) and some of my own observations.

Who (within an organisation) should be Tweeting?

According to Ashley Friedlein (@AshleyFriedlein), it makes sense to see who in the company is already “Tweeting” so that an organisation’s Twitter efforts can be streamlined and managed efficiently.

Guy Stephens (@guy1067), Carphone Warehouse’s online help manager and author of a recent Econsultancy blog post on corporate tweeting, stressed that companies should see Twitter as “just another channel” and not get too fixated by who within the company was doing the Tweeting.

Kai Turner (@kaigani), Agency.com’s head of information architecture, added that Twitter “was a protocol which will work its way into every aspect of a business”. His point was that Twitter is becoming a channel which transcends its original role as a microblogging service.

I would add that Twitter ownership within a company depends on what you are using Twitter for. If there are real and tangible sales objectives then it is probably something for a sales team employee whereas, more typically, it might be something owned by a customer service representative (as in the case of Carphone Warehouse) or by someone working in marketing and PR (who can monitor what is being said about a brand).

It’s worth checking out a previous Econsultancy blog post on ‘The 13 types of Tweet to take notice of’.

Of course, it may be that an organisation doesn’t allow its employees to Tweet about company business. For every Carphone Warehouse, there are dozens of organisations where devolution of control to individual employees via Twitter and social networks is anathema to senior management.

Will Twitter have any longevity given its simplicity and focus on one function (a 140-character message)? Will it matter that it is a “one trick pony”?

The panel strongly agreed that part of Twitter’s appeal is its simplicity and that this was certainly not a stumbling block.

So what’s the mesage here? One Trick Pony, these guys are missing the point, the Twitter platform is the ultimate Networking tool, that’s a given.You can tap in to an army of different niche groups, at will. What remins to be seen is how to best use it to get the most out of it. Marketers are scrambling to stake their claim.

My friend @harrisfellman says he’s taking over Twitter, and once he does he may create a product to show us how he did it. And I’m sure he’s not alone, I plan to launch my own Titter Domination Strategies in the very near future.

Well that’s all I got today. I’m off to Tweet myself into a stupor (It’s Friday Night!)