blog 4

I chose to write about the article that discusses the uses of Twitter. It's called 10 Smart Enterprise Uses For Twitter, written by Kevin Casy, and was published on October 13, 2011. The article mentions the fact that Twitter has many different uses, and also it is its own language, where you have to be involved by listening as well as talking. You should be a part of a conversation, especially if it is discussing your business or products. Generating referrals is also a prominent aspect of Twitter. According to the blog, one of the first places companies should look is among their current and former employees. It also recommends that you develop strong media relationships within Twitter. Like the technology and entertainment industries, the media business is also quite active on Twitter. Quoting Amy Ziari from the blog, she advises that people "Follow the most important reporters to your company and when you have something of value to add, respond in an authentic way to their tweets". Also more and more reporters are searching for stories through Twitter. Twitter also helps modernize customer service, by potentially cutting down on the call and email volume. It may at least give an otherwise faceless enterprise a chance to show its customers that it actually cares about keeping them. It's also used as a way to recruit people for hire. It is increasingly used as a part of enterprise HR departments and how they attract and hire qualified job candidates. This can determine if people are technology oriented which may be useful in some positions. It's also cheaper to posts things on Twitter than taking out ads in the paper, because the only expense is an employees time and effort. Also you can promote a business as well as yourself. This is poosible because instead of only posting about products and endless sales, an individual may mix a couple posts about sales into other tweets, that way it doesn't become 'white noise', which may result in people's loss of interest. It is also an extremely useful way to communicate with employees. Large enterprises need fast channels for communicating with their people. Twitter's brevity and accessibility offer this opportunity, particularly in situations when other communications channels might be down or otherwise unrealistic. Twitter can also help you 'improve your social media I.Q' because it is a good venue for keeping up with broader social and community developments. Twitter on its own offers a platform for engaging with executives and other influential people in your industry. A social media network such as this can be overpowering and extremely influential. Last but not least, Twitter can provide valuable information on what your competitors are doing, and what others are saying about them, providing valuable information for a company. I'm not really one to follow Twitter but it is really amazing that it has so many uses that can be beneficial to businesses. I have not really thought about it in this way, because for the most part I believed it to be a waste of time and just another way to post your 'every minute action'. Twitter can get you sucked in like any social media network, but according to this article it is useful for some things, you just need to know how to utilize them.