From a Business Perspective, What's So Great About Twitter, Anyway?

Well, I joined Twitter a couple of weeks ago (SimplePraveen), and I would never ask that question anymore. I think that Twitter will become a new cornerstone in the internet, just like Facebook, My Space, Linked In, and blogging - thus Twitter will have just as much of an impact on business, marketing, and brand building.



The main difference between Twitter and these other social media sites is that these other sites are set up to build one-to-one networking links between people, and they encourage their users to post as much content as they want. With Twitter, the networking is more like one-to-many, and users are limited to 140 character messages.

This limitation forces people to be creative. It also fosters more usage, because people are drawn to Twitter's simplicity, and are less likely to get writer's block and procrastinate.

I think a good way to think of Twitter is that it combines the one-to-many aspect of email with the immediacy of instant messaging. You are basically sending 140 character (or less) instant messages to all the people who follow you. The size restriction means that Twitter is ideally suited to building relationships and branding - rather than hard sells.

Here are 2 inexpensive sources of information I am currently using to learn more about Twitter and marketing / brand building:

1. Joel Comm's new book Twitter Power

2. Twitter Traffic Machine course