I’ve personally been very skeptical of Twitter’s value, other than for mindless entertainment and time killing, but I’m beginning to change my mind. Here are a few of my reasons:
1. I’ve recently started auto-feeding my blog posts to Twitter, and I’m finding that random people are beginning to follow me. At first this seemed a bit creepy. But most of my random followers appear to have found me by searching for terms in my post titles, and I’ve actually begun to find some interesting and useful links by following them. Is this some modern form of community building based on common interests? Am I late to the game here? Probably.
2. Last week I blogged about a Virgin America flight captain introducing himself the the passengers in the gate prior to boarding. The post auto-fed to Twitter, and within 10 minutes (before the plane even departed) I received an email notifying me that Virgin America was now following me on Twitter. Interesting. They are obviously aggregating social media posts about their firm to make sure they have a real time sense for customer sentiment so they can promote positive comments, and address negative ones before they get out of hand.
It reminded me of this old post on James Fallow’s blog, where a customer had a problem with the power outlets on a Virgin flight. After complaining on Twitter, he had an exchange with a rep over Twitter to try and solve his problem. All while he was in the air. Click the link to read the exchange. This seems like a much more convenient and useful way to complain about things than calling, writing a letter, or navigating through a company’s customer service website page.
3. I recently read this post by Lizzy Bennett who works at Timbuk2. The bag company. A customer had suggested on Twitter that the firm collaborate with Sanuk Footwear. Timbuk2 responded that they love the idea, and then Sanuk responded that they were interested as well. All on Twitter. Within 24 hours the two firms were holding a meeting to discuss potential products they could make through a joint venture. Not bad.
I still haven’t changed my internet habits to the point where I browse Twitter more than once a week, but I think I’m going to try. And I’ll see where it goes. Feel free to add any of your own useful experiences in the comments. If I get enough, I’ll add them in a new post. Shafrir, if you’re reading this, you must have some interesting experiences given all the time you claim to waste on the internet. Spector, you too.