Why Twitter DOES Matter

For a service that limits individual messages to 140 characters or less, Twitter seems to be generating a lot of discussion these days. And while some folks, including the editor of this Web site, believe that Twitter is little more than a profitless waste of time, I find myself looking to this emerging microblogging service as a harbinger of a social media-aware future for business.

I also use it. Heavily. From my laptop. From my BlackBerry. Any time I can get away with tweeting without my wife catching me. So, yes, I’ve drunk the Twitter Kool Aid. And despite the fact that Kool Aid has almost no nutritional value compared to my morning glass of OJ, it’s earned a place in my refrigerator alongside the healthier fare. Twitter’s no different.

In other words, Twitter is today’s messaging-lite. It is not and never will be the only tool you’re ever going to use to communicate. It complements conventional e-mail and other social media tools. One-size-fits-all never worked for e-mail or Facebook, and it certainly won’t work for Twitter, either. The average Twitter user has already figured out workflows to seamlessly move tweets between various messaging platforms. Write once, distribute many: It’s the key to maintaining relevant, efficient dialog. Not especially. Google didn’t, either, in the early days, when its search engine only did search and didn’t serve up any revenue-generating ads. We all still lapped up the stunningly effective new service and didn’t seem to care about the business machinations behind it. Twitter’s in the same boat today: it’s got buzz, a rabid and growing user base, and a seemingly inexhaustible ability to integrate with other messaging tools.

Although it’s still immature by Internet Age standards, Twitter has already seized a fair chunk of the zeitgeist, and businesses large and small are already asking if this is something they should be considering. Yes, they should. The CEOs of some fairly high profile companies are already using it, which strongly suggests there’s business value here. How do you begin to figure out how Twitter makes sense for your own business? We’ll get into that next time out.

Carmi Levy is a Canadian technology analyst and journalist whose research focuses on emerging telecommunications-related issues including smartphone evolution, wireless carrier strategies, government regulation and wireless network infrastructure. For more from Carmi, click here.