Back in July, I wrote this first rant called: The Twitter Secret - why & how to use Twitter for B2B and technology businesses. Rant #1, where I give a detailed explanation of how to use Twitter properly in business applications. By now I would have thought most people would have figured out the "why" of Twitter.
But no.
Back in July, when I wrote this post, The Pew Institute reported that for 2009, Twitter awareness was at a remarkable 80%+ but usage was relatively low at around 7 - 8%. People tied themselves in knots to explain it. Many suggested that Twitter's relative youth accounted for its low usage numbers and that surely over time, its influence would only grow.
Guess what. A year later and the latest Pew Institute usage numbers for 2010 say Twitter is still at 8%. This time around, it's harder for people to explain it away in the same way. So now a new crop of answers try to explain the awareness/ usage gap.
Therefore, in the interest of efficiency, I will explain the secret of Twitter in 140 words or less (yeah I know I am cheating - so sue me).
Twitter is important to you if:
- You need to distribute a lot of content, e.g. media people, reporters, PR/ publicity folks, agency folks, marketers, analysts, bloggers AND online commerce site
- You need to consume a lot of content, , e.g. media people, reporters, PR/ publicity folks, agency folks, marketers, analysts and bloggers
- You want to outreach to specific media/ people in your industry
- You want to outreach to specific customers or customer groups
- You hope to develop a better way to hear customer input
- You hope to figure out what Twitter is REALLY good at, write a book and get rich
So unless you fall into one of the categories on this list, don't worry about Twitter for right now. It's probably not that crucial to your business. Go ahead - you can definitively cross this question off your list. Now you know.
Happy new year!
Judy Shapiro