Twitter Marketing E-Book

Hollis Thomases

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 654

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Beschreibung

The complete guide to a successful Twitter marketing campaign Twitter is a microblogging service that's changing the way we communicate. Marketers recognize its value, and Twitter Marketing: An Hour a Day offers marketers, advertisers, brand managers, PR professionals, and business owners an in-depth guide to designing, implementing, and measuring the impact of a complete Twitter strategy. Expert author Hollis Thomases acquaints you with the Twitterverse, its conventions, and its fascinating demographics and statistics. She then teaches you step by step how to effectively craft successful branding and direct response strategies that can be scaled to any organization and its objectives. Twitter Marketing: An Hour a Day uses interesting case studies, success stories, anecdotes, and examples to demonstrate how to use Twitter metrics in order to inform strategic direction. You'll discover how top companies-large and small-have leveraged this exciting communications platform. * Twitter has become a phenomenon with 32 million users, including major companies such as Apple, JetBlue, and CNN * This step-by-step guide explains the demographics, shows how companies are using Twitter, and explains how to scale the approach to your enterprise * The detailed coverage includes the basics for Twitter newcomers and explores all elements of a successful strategy * Expert author Hollis Thomases shows how to set goals, develop and implement a plan, attract followers, and measure the impact of a campaign * The in-depth book explains how to maintain momentum and explores such issues as contests, promotions, and crisis management Twitter Marketing: An Hour a Day is the ultimate guide to succeeding one tweet at a time!

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Praise

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Foreword

Introduction

How to Use This Book

I - Get to Know Twitter

Chapter 1 - Understand Twitter

Twitter History and Definitions

Twitter’s Technology

Twitter’s Rapid Ascent

Twitter’s Financial Future

What Makes Tweeps Tick?

Twitter’s Culture

The Main Points

Chapter 2 - Who’s Using Twitter for What?

Demographics

Individual Users

Bots, Games, and Memes

Small and Home-Based Businesses

Not-for-Profits: Charities, Causes, the Arts, Houses of Worship, and Associations

Academia and Higher Education

Government

Marketing, Advertising, Public Relations, and Communications Professionals

Media Outlets

Sports and Entertainment

Corporations and Brands

The Main Points

Chapter 3 - Twitter, the Multipurpose Platform

What Twitter Can Accomplish

Key Questions to Consider for Branding

The Main Points

II - Month 1: Master Twitter Fundamentals

Chapter 4 - Week 1: Get on Twitter

Monday: Create an Account

Tuesday: Find People to Follow

Wednesday: Learn Twitter Lingo

Thursday: Access Twitter

Friday: From Lurking to Leaping

The Main Points

Chapter 5 - Week 2 : Find and Attract Followers

Followers and Following

Monday: Use Basic Search to Find Followers

Tuesday: Add New Friends

Wednesday: Attract Followers

Thursday: Syndicate Your Tweet Content

Friday: Tools to Help Build and Manage Followers

The Main Points

Chapter 6 - Week 3 : Use Twitter Search and Other Tools to Improve Your Experience

Search and Other Tools for Twitter

Monday: Master Twitter Search

Tuesday: Use Tools to Enrich Your Tweets

Wednesday: Analyze Your Twitter Activity

Thursday: Experiment with Other Useful Twitter Tools

Friday: Fun with Twitter Tools

The Main Points

Chapter 7 - Week 4 : Track and Monitor What Twitter Generates for You

Twitter Metrics

Monday: Understand What to Track and How to Review It

Tuesday: Alerts—Simple Tracking Tools

Wednesday: Advanced Tracking Tools

Thursday: Compile Tracking Data

Friday: Review, Analyze, and Respond to Tracking Data

The Main Points

III - Month 2 : Develop and Launch Your Strategic Plan

Chapter 8 - Week 5 : Develop a Successful Twitter Strategy

Monday: Study Brands Succeeding with Twitter

Tuesday: Different Approaches to Develop Your Strategy

Wednesday: Study Strategies for Market Verticals

Thursday: Twitter’s Role in Your Overall Marketing Strategy

Friday: Avoid Pitfalls

The Main Points

Chapter 9 - Week 6: Establish Goals and Get Corporate Buy-In

Monday: Establish Objectives

Wednesday: Determine Tweet Topics

Thursday: Assign Resources

Friday: Get Company Buy-In

The Main Points

Chapter 10 - Week 7: Get Your Brand Started on Twitter

Monday: Claim Your Brand’s Twitter Name

Tuesday: Set Up Your Brand’s Profile

Wednesday: Your First Brand Tweets

Thursday: Engage Your Brand’s Followers

Friday: Summarize Best Practices

The Main Points

Chapter 11 - Week 8 : Monitor, Measure, and Valuate

Monday: Review Your Twitter Stats

Tuesday: Analyze Your Website Traffic

Wednesday: Analyze Actions

Thursday: Valuate

Friday: Review Case Studies

The Main Points

IV - Month 3: Maintain Your Twitter Presence

Chapter 12 - Week 9: Institutionalize Maintenance

Monday: Hold Weekly Meetings

Tuesday: Implement Weekly Action Plan

Wednesday: Oversee Production Requirements

Thursday: Prepare Documentation

Friday: Deliver Results to Management

The Main Points

Chapter 13 - Week 10: Prepare for Crisis Management

The Reality of Twitter Crises

Monday: List Potential Crises

Tuesday: Create a Fire Drill

Wednesday: Write a Twitter Crisis Management Action Plan

Thursday: Know How to Really Say “I’m Sorry”

Friday: Distribute Your Crisis Action Plan

The Main Points

Chapter 14 - Week 11: Develop a Direct Response Promotion for Twitter

Monday: Define the Need

Tuesday: Define Campaign Components

Wednesday: Move to Production

Thursday: Work Your Announcement Strategy

Friday: Launch Your Campaign

The Main Points

A - Twitter-Related Glossary

B - Twitter-Related Tools and Resources

C - Tips from Tweeps

D - Social Media Guidelines

Index

Advance Praise for Twitter Marketing: An Hour A Day

If you’ve been struggling—as I have—to figure out what exactly Twitter is for and how it can be used to build a business, this terrific book by Hollis Thomases is a god-send. It’s filled with practical advice and hands-on exercises that will help companies of all sizes tap into Twitter’s marketing potential. Best of all, it’s a really good read and sheds much-needed light on what the excitement is all about.

—BO BURLINGHAM, editor-at-large, Inc. magazine, and author, Small Giants: Companies That Choose To Be Great Instead of Big

At last: A friendly Twitter handbook specifically for the unique needs of marketing professionals in the corporate and non-profit worlds! It’s practical, pragmatic, and, best of all, packed with case studies and real-life illustrations. I’ve already been inspired to try a few new ideas from it.”

—ANNE HOLLAND, founder, Marketing Sherpa; publisher, WhichTestWon.com; one of the ‘Top 25 Businesswomen on Twitter’ in 2009

Are you listening to your customers? On Twitter?

If you’re not participating yet in social listening, welcome to your new textbook.Hollis Thomases lays down the plan for you to follow in the Hour-A-Day “eat-an-elephant”-style, so you can be facile in minutes, effective in hours, and an expert in days.Whether Twitter is king in two years makes no matter; the technology is rewriting thefuture of customer interaction. You need to know this right now and for your future.

—SUSAN BRATTON, CEO, Personal Life Media, Inc.; host, DishyMix show; author, Masterful Interviews

Think Twitter’s more hype than substance? Think again.

Hollis Thomases, who’s guided online marketing campaigns during boom and bust years alike, lays out a compelling case for businesses to tap this social network. Hollis, a ClickZ columnist for five years, embodies the best that Twitter has to offer; she’s tuned into this online community. And in this book, she shares practical advice for marketers, public relations practitioners, and others to consider before plunging into this channel.

—ANNA MARIA VIRZI, executive editor, ClickZ

Hollis Thomases has created an extremely practical guide to Twitter for neophytesand serious marketers alike. She clearly and completely demystifies the service.Chapters build from very basic topics, such as setting up an account, to more advancedareas, such as branding, direct response marketing, and PR crisis management. AndThomases “walks the walk;” her insights and advice are drawn from daily experienceon Twitter as well as close study of successful (and unsuccessful) Twitter campaigns.

There are an increasing number of books on Twitter, but this one is an indispensableB2B guide for large or small businesses seeking to build effective social media marketing -campaigns on this rapidly growing platform.

—GREG STERLING, principle, Sterling Market Intelligence

What is the Twitter phenomenon, and how can you capitalize on it for business, marketing, employee relations, crisis management, and sales? How have companies such as Dell used Twitter to account for more than $3 million in sales? This book walks you through Twitter processes and strategies step by step: from setting up an account to setting actionable business goals. Whether you’re a Twitter newbie or a seasoned power user, there’s something in here that will help you use Twitter more effectively—and more profitably.

—REBECCA LIEB, VP, Econsultancy, and author, The Truth About Search Engine Optimization

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Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

eISBN : 978-0-470-60939-2

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: Thomases, Hollis, 1965-

1. Twitter. 2. Internet marketing. 3. Business communication. 4. Online social networks. I. Title.

HF5415.1265.T53 2010

658.8’72—dc22

2009043718

TRADEMARKS: Wiley, the Wiley logo, and the Sybex logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates, in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. Twitter is a registered trademark of Twitter, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc. is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

Dear Reader,

Thank you for choosing Twitter Marketing: An Hour a Day. This book is part of a family of premium-quality Sybex books, all of which are written by outstanding authors who combine practical experience with a gift for teaching.

Sybex was founded in 1976. More than 30 years later, we’re still committed to producing consistently exceptional books. With each of our titles, we’re working hard to set a new standard for the industry. From the paper we print on, to the authors we work with, our goal is to bring you the best books available.

I hope you see all that reflected in these pages. I’d be very interested to hear your comments and get your feedback on how we’re doing. Feel free to let me know what you think about this or any other Sybex book by sending me an email at [email protected]. If you think you’ve found a technical error in this book, please visit http://sybex.custhelp.com. Customer feedback is critical to our efforts at Sybex.

Best regards,

Neil Edde Vice President and Publisher Sybex, an imprint of Wiley

To my grandparents, who unfailingly believed me capable of all I’ve achieved, and to my husband, for bearing with me on this Homerian journey and for us coming out the other side better for the wear.

Acknowledgments

I am a humble and passionate student of my field. Longer than most, I have evangelized the Internet as a marketing medium, and Twitter has given me another means to spread the word. Having been warmly embraced by the Twitter community, I have learned, interpreted, and tried to share my education with others. Little did I know that all of this interaction would lead me to write this book. With this, my finished work, I feel I first ought to thank the Twitterverse at large for helping me make this possible. I have so enjoyed the support and conversations of which I’ve been the benefactor. Writing a book is a lonely business, and many times a simple “atta girl,” helpful retweet, or validation of an idea carried me through many hours. I also need to acknowledge all the individuals and companies who provided feedback, case studies, and helpful anecdotes, all of which went into the contents of this book.

Writing this book has been an epic journey for me. I feel as though I have passed a series of Odysseus-like tests and have arrived back in Ithaca tired, yet unscathed. This wouldn’t have been possible were it not for everyone who works for me at my agency, Web Ad.vantage, who suffered through months of my absentee ownership, and yet who managed not only to hold down the fort, but to thrive during this period. It’s a testament to the potency of our team, and I’m so proud of you all. I’d especially like to acknowledge Jaime Hood, Katie Clay, and Virginia Bush for their direct assistance on this project, and David Cease for manning the fort in my stead.

I also need to thank those who voluntarily contributed to this book in no small measure, providing me with research, notes, tweets, and direct content: Carlos Hernandez (@CarlosHernandez, who did double duty as this book’s technical editor and who is a huge supporter), Gini Dietrich (@ginidietrich), Tom Rowe (@thefrontrowe), Marivic Valencia (@techpr), Nancy Cawley Jean (@NancyCawleyJean), and Mike D. Merrill (@mikedmerrill). These people gave up their personal time to help me with this project, and I cannot thank them enough for doing so. My thanks too to Rachel Levy, who also aided me with content development.

In the spirit of Twitter, as I endeavored to produce this book, I also strove to collaborate with the at-large community. I sent out a request for help for Twitter assistants whom I asked to be “on call” to aid me, whether it was to answer single questions, to retweet requests, or to try to recruit other contributors to various parts of the book. I called this group of committed volunteers the “Hollis Twitter Army,” and we used the hashtag #HTArmy to trumpet each new mission. Members of the Hollis Twitter Army grew to develop relationships of their own, and to this day they use the hashtag to share information about Twitter marketing they think would be valuable for us all to read. For this unity and spirit of sharing, I am so proud. I would like to acknowledge some particular members of the Hollis Twitter Army who really led the charge: my “lieutenant,” Lauren Litwinka; my “captain,” Juli Barcelona; and special members Sima Dahl, Chris Maddox, Mayra Ruiz, and Ericka Alston, as well as those I mentioned in the previous paragraph.

Special thanks to all-around fabulous person and author of Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day, Dave Evans, who recommended me for this project and who has acted as a mentor and cheerleader throughout. And to the great crew at Sybex—Willem Knibbe, Gary Schwartz, Liz Britten, and Pete Gaughan—who patiently endured the onslaught of questions and communications from this type-A, first-time author.

For coaxing the writer out of me early on, I really need to thank Greg Sterling and Rebecca Lieb, both former editors at different online publications who have since moved on to other careers but who both gave me a voice and a reason to pursue greater knowledge.

And finally, I want to thank my friends who patiently tolerated my near-complete absence of a social life; my family, who instilled in me the work ethic to complete this undertaking; my beautiful babies, who loved having Mommy home day and night to stroke and nuzzle with; and to my husband, Tony, for allowing me always to pursue my dreams.

About the Author

Hollis Thomases, a self-confessed Twitter addict, is an award-winning online marketer who has spent much of her career educating and inspiring business professionals to tap into the marketing power of the Web. Hollis founded Web Ad.vantage (http://www.webadvantage.net), a boutique agency providing a broad range of strategic online marketing and advertising solu tions, in 1998 when social networking meant participating in Usenet groups, email discussion lists, webrings, forums, and mes sage boards. Hollis has seen a lot of digital marketing ideas come and go, but believes that Twitter has staying power.

Under Hollis’s leadership and strategic planning, Hollis and Web Ad.vantage have provided consulting and tactical execution services, including social media marketing, to entities such as Nokia USA, Endo Pharmaceuticals, K’NEX, Johns Hopkins University, Visit Baltimore, Checkpoint Software, Starlight Children’s Foundation, and Connections Academy.

A long-time popular speaker, Hollis has appeared at Internet and industry conferences for such varied organizations and events as the American Marketing Association, the Public Relations Society of America, Search Engine Strategies, the Newsletter and Electronic Publishers Association, The Kelsey Group, and the Vocus Worldwide User Forum. Since 2005, Hollis has authored the online biweekly ClickZ column, “Planning the Buy.”

Hollis was the 2007 U.S. SBA “Small Business Person of the Year” representing the state of Maryland and, in 2009, she was honored by the University of Baltimore’s Merrick School of Business as Baltimore’s “Distinguished Business Innovation Entrepreneur of the Year.” Hollis holds a Bachelor of Arts in social relations from Cornell University. She has many interests, but her passions run to people, wining and dining, and any kind of activity that gets the heart rate going…probably in that order.

Hollis welcomes you to tweet her at @hollisthomases!

Foreword

When I first met Hollis in New York, we were both writing for ClickZ (http://www.clickz.com), an online publication for digital marketing profes sionals. We were getting ready for the ClickZ session at the Search Engine Strategies conference and talking about how social media had become a factor in search optimization programs. Hollis was presenting a set of case studies on the use of Twitter in the context of search and practical, applied business marketing. It was at this session that I saw in Hollis a source, a real insight into how to use Twitter effectively. Mostly what impressed me was the way in which she was able to simply and clearly convey what she knew, to show the people in the audience how to do what she had done. Those are the keys to mastering the “Hour a Day” writing approach.

Since that time, Hollis has continued to press her knowledge into further uses of Twitter as the service has literally exploded. This book brings her knowledge to you, in the characteristically practical, hands-on way for which the “Hour a Day” series is known.

I know what some of you may be thinking (although you’re at least far enough down the purchase funnel to be reading this foreword!): “Twitter is a fad.” You may have heard that a lot of the “accounts” are abandoned. Suppose that’s true. Suppose that only 25% of the current installed base—something approaching 100 million—are active. That’s 25 million people who are talking among themselves. Think “I’m standing in line at Starbucks…” is idle banter? Ask Howard Schultz, founder and returned CEO of the best-known coffee chain in the world. He literally “stopped the line,” to borrow a term from Toyota, when he closed Starbucks for three hours partly out of concern for exactly what it was that was being talked about as people waited in those lines at Starbucks.

The bottom line is this: As a marketer, I don’t really care if something is a fad or not; what I care about are sales, this quarter. If a powerful fad lasts two or more quarters and I can tap into it and build my business, I’m going to do it. For those keeping track, as of this writing, Twitter is in its 15th quarter, and millions of people are using it daily. That’s what gets my attention, as a marketer, and that is what Hollis has captured and written about in Twitter Marketing: An Hour a Day. Minimum, it’s worth understanding how Twitter can contribute to your marketing program. Maximum? That’s up to you.

What Twitter brings to a marketing program, in my mind, was summed up nicely by blogger Jeff Jarvis when he stressed the importance of a “natural voice.” Look at India’s Kingfisher Airlines, or any of the Dell Twitter accounts. You’ll find ordinary people, like “StefanieAtDell” that are … simply talking to customers. Customers are talking back, and a conversation is forming. Airline tickets and computers are being sold as a direct result. Hollis shows you, step-by-step, how to do what these brands and dozens of others have now discovered: Twitter, used smartly, can contribute to your success.

Dive into this book. Do the exercises. Put what you learn to work in your business. Then test it, measure it, refine it, and grow it. Most of all, enjoy it. And thank you for choosing to explore Twitter from a business and marketing perspective.

—Dave Evans

Author, Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day, and founder of Digital Voodoo

Introduction

Hello, my name is Hollis Thomases (@hollisthomases), and I’m a Twitter addict. There, I said it. Like most Twitter addicts, however, there was a time when I was instead a Twitter skeptic. I’d been practicing online marketing for 11 years and couldn’t for the life of me understand why I would want to answer the question “What are you doing?” for the world to read. Better yet, why would they care? I viewed Twitter as a place for the trivial and the mundane—a place that attracted people with time on their hands or those who had nothing better to do.

Today, nothing could be further from my perception. I have seen the proverbial light and I evangelize Twitter whenever and wherever I can. These days, the most common question I’m answering for others is not “What am I doing?” but “Why should I Twitter? I don’t get this thing or how it can help my company.” The turning point came for me in early 2008 when a colleague pointed me to a brief about how the tax-preparation firm H&R Block was using Twitter to help answer tax-return-preparation questions as a means to woo new customers. Reading this brief made me realize the potential of Twitter as a marketing tool. As an online marketing practitioner, the dots were connected, and I haven’t looked back since.

Each day I’m reminded how valuable Twitter is as a marketing tool. It’s a place for research, for customer service, for product promotion, to distribute news, to build customer loyalty, and to get ideas. In fact, the use of Twitter for marketing is constantly evolving, where almost weekly one can read about a unique strategy or application of Twitter for marketing. Yet, at the same time, as a user representing either yourself or your brand, the daily use of Twitter can be overwhelming and mind-numbing. How are we supposed to process all this information, read everything people write, and just where and how are we supposed to allocate our time and resources, and for what end?

What I hope to accomplish by writing this book is to show you the marketing power of Twitter so you will truly believe the end justifies learning about the means. In college I majored in a funny little interdisciplinary field combining the study of psychology, sociology, and anthropology called social relations. In a class of 4,000 students, only two other people majored in social relations and, at the time, I put up with much ribbing: “What kind of major is that? Are you majoring in partying?!?” In hindsight, I now think I was quite prescient in my decision, but the reality was that I loved (and still do) to understand what motivated people. I wanted to understand both the internal forces and external ones, and social relations isn’t a study so much of data as it is of what forces form and influences people. I believe that Twitter is one of these forces.

You see, Twitter helps foster one of social media’s most powerful examples of collectivism. Collectivism, as defined by Wikipedia, is

...any moral, political, or social outlook that emphasizes the interdependence of every human in some collective group and the priority of group goals over individual goals. The philosophical underpinnings of collectivism are for some related to holism—the view that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts/pieces. Specifically, a society as a whole can be seen as having more meaning or value than the separate individuals that make up that society.

Now, in no way am I claiming that everyone using Twitter is only out for the collective good, but there is a soul to Twitter that speaks to, nurtures, and prides itself on this kind of interdependence. The creators of Twitter unwittingly tapped into something much larger than a mere means to provide instant status updates of people. They tapped into the soul of this modern collective and gave everyone a means to communicate within it.

I have often joked that I am a “twanthropologist,” my own Twitterese for someone who studies humans on Twitter. Part of the reason I chose to write this book was to further this observation, but moreover I wanted to use my abilities to write, educate, and train people on how to use Twitter by speaking in a way with which they’d feel comfortable (also known as plain English). It would have been clever to have written this book in 140-character bits, the limitation imposed by Twitter, but the reality is that such writing would be disjointed and hard to follow—even if the end result were not a printed book. Instead, I’ve used old-fashioned prose to walk you through logical processes, with my goal being that you come away feeling more fully informed than if you had tried to absorb all of this information in tiny-sized nuggets.

This book was written not as a simple primer; there are other great books that have taken this approach. Instead, Twitter Marketing: An Hour a Day is for the serious marketing and business professional seeking more in-depth and detailed information. Beyond teaching the basics, I hope that this book provokes thought and new creative ideas for using Twitter. If you execute these ideas, please don’t hesitate to let me know through Twitter!

How to Use This Book

For cover-to-cover readers, Part I of this book will provide the background of Twitter, statistical information to offer perspective, common uses of Twitter, and information about how Twitter is being used by so many varying types of people and entities. In Part II, I want you to become familiar with Twitter, first as an individual user, before you start using it to help you market your company. In Part II, I introduce you to the hour-a-day format found in this popular series of online marketing books. You’ll have daily exercises to guide your progress. Think of Part II as your warm-up. If you’re already a fluent Twitter user, you may want to skim or altogether skip Part II and head straight to Part III. By Part III, you’ll have your business marketing hat on, and we’ll cover the kinds of details and concerns that commonly arise among marketers. Finally, in Part IV, we review some particular circumstances for using Twitter in a business context. Throughout the book, I’ll also drop reminders because, although very versatile, the daily use of Twitter is somewhat routine.

You will also see #TMHAD along the book’s outer border where you’ll find the chapter title and page number. This #TMHAD is called a “hashtag,” which you’ll soon learn all about. We’re including this particular #TMHAD hashtag because we’re hoping when you discuss this book on Twitter you’ll also use our hashtag in your tweet. That way, you, all the other book readers, Twitter users, and I can easily locate and join the conversation. Please give it a try!

Twitter is a real-time medium and one that’s still experiencing rapid growth. Some of the material in this book may change completely by the time it is published, and I apologize in advance for any outdated content. None of us in this dynamic social media space, however, would expect otherwise, so I hope neither do you. The most important take-away, however, is that you learn and actually have fun. Yes, fun and business marketing—it is possible to combine the two!

I

Get to Know Twitter

Here’s your mission: Read and use this book to help your company engage in Twitter marketing. This is not a CliffsNotes-Your-Way to-Twitter Marketing; it is packed with information and exercises, and it will require your attention and rigor. When you are through, you’ll have the tools and knowledge needed to help you make wise decisions and succeed at Twitter marketing.

Part I of this book is designed to give you the historical background and statistical information you need to determine if Twitter marketing is right for your organization. It also gives you plenty of examples of how other companies have been using Twitter to help support their brands and generate action.

You’re probably eager to start reading, learning, and using Twitter for marketing, so without further ado, let the class begin!

1

Understand Twitter

In so many ways, many people still don’t get Twitter. Bring up Twitter at any casual or business gathering, and you’re bound to start a lively conversation. Most of the time, nonusers flat out and emphatically proclaim, “I just don’t get Twitter!” Others, who just view Twitter as a crude tool to broadcast your every action, curl their upper lips with the challenge, “Why should I waste my time with Twitter?” The more timid or truly curious befuddledly ask, “Just what the heck is Twitter?”

If you’re among the curious, the first chapter of this book should satisfy your curiosity and then some. If you fall into the cynical, doubting Thomases (pun intended) or perplexed categories, be prepared to read beyond this first chapter to learn about and understand the true business value of Twitter.

Twitter History and Definitions

In early 2006, a young software engineer named Jack Dorsey approached the media syndication company Odeo with the idea of finding a simple way to share what his friends were doing—that is, their status at any given moment. Drawing on his previous work programming web-based emergency dispatch software and finding inspiration in instant-messaging applications, Dorsey was interested in developing a real-time status-communication platform with a social spin. Entrepreneur and Odeo founder Biz Stone, liked the idea. Stone and Dorsey collectively decided that short message service, or SMS (the technology used by mobile phones to send and receive text messages), would be ideally suited to this concept. They decided on a maximum message size of 140 characters, because it was fewer than the maximum 160 characters permitted by SMS text messaging, which would leave room for a user name and a colon.

In only two weeks’ time, the first prototype of what would become Twitter was born. The service quickly grew popular with Odeo employees and other insiders, and attracted the attention of ex-Googler Evan Williams, who initially funded the project. Twitter was launched to the public in August 2006, and by May 2007, Dorsey, Stone, and Williams officially cofounded Twitter, Inc.

Twitter Defined

So what the heck is Twitter, anyway?

The common definitions of Twitter are mired in industry jargon such as “social networking” and “micro-blogging,” so if you don’t understand those terms, we need to take a step back for a minute. I find myself explaining Twitter to newbies as something akin to instant messaging or chat—that is, Twitter is a platform that allows you to share, in real time, thoughts, information, links, and so forth with the Web at-large and to be able to communicate directly, privately or publicly, with other Twitter users. The main difference, however, is that each Twitter communication cannot exceed 140 total characters.

I am also frequently asked questions about who can see these messages and if someone has to join Twitter to communicate. I stress that most Twitter posts, known as tweets, can theoretically be viewed by anyone with an Internet connection at any time. No one needs to have a Twitter account to view someone else’s tweets. The public accessibility of Twitter makes it somewhat unique among social networking websites, where normally you can’t see people’s information without them first accepting your invitation. If you do want to communicate privately with other individuals on Twitter, though, you will need to join and create an account. (I’ll tell you more about how you can send private messages through Twitter a little later.)

Twitter is based on the simple question “What are you doing?” and encourages users to answer exactly that. But if you use Twitter only to broadcast your commonplace activities, you’re missing out on its real potential. After all, if all you ever write is “Going to the grocery store now,” or “Just fixed the office copier,” you’re not really opening up the door for much conversation, are you?

Conversations of many kinds and the ease with which Twitter facilitates them compose the hidden power of Twitter, particularly as a branding and business marketing tool (Figure 1.1). Twitter has given the public unprecedented direct access to companies, celebrities, and power figures in a way that hasn’t previously been seen. Conversely, Twitter enables unfettered and immediate direct access to the masses. For a brand, Twitter can rapidly reduce the timeline and costs of research, product launches, pilot tests, incentives, and promotions; plus Twitter offers a number of other possibilities that we will explore in depth later in this book.

Figure 1.1 Twitter is a real-time looking glass into what people are doing, saying, observing, and thinking.

Why Should I Use Twitter?

Twitter humbly asks, “What are you doing?” Perhaps the more appropriate question for Twitter to ask would be, “What interests you?” Try thinking in this context as you begin marketing yourself or your business through Twitter. Remember that tweeting is like having a conversation. Imagine yourself at a conference or a business-networking event. If a perfect stranger came up to you and blurted out, “I’m eating the empanada hors d’oeuvres right now,” you would probably look oddly at this person, give them an awkward smile, and move swiftly on your way. On the other hand, if a different person came up and said, “I found the information provided by the last speaker very valuable for my business. How about you?” you’d probably be more interested in what this person had to say, and more inclined to respond yes or no. That’s how you should treat every Twitter interaction. The most successful people and brands using Twitter are the ones who treat Twitter as an ongoing, open, and thought-provoking conversation rather than just a broadcast medium. These users are knowledgeable about their business, responsive to feedback, and respectful of the community.

Some Important Twitter Vernacular

Before we go any further, it’s important to familiarize yourself with the most common Twitter terminology as it will be used throughout this book to describe the process of Twitter marketing.

Twitter Terminology

Handle. A user’s Twitter name (e.g., hollisthomases).

Tweet. The message, consisting of 140 or fewer characters, sent by a Twitter user. On Twitter, these tweets are tracked in your user profile as Tweets.

Tweeting or Twittering. The act of composing and sending a message.

Retweet (RT). When someone forwards your tweet, or retweets, they put RT in front of it to give you proper credit.

@ reply. The @ symbol directly in front of someone’s name (@hollisthomases) indicates you’re sending them a public message or responding to a message they sent you. It’s a pub licly visible type of Twitter messaging between two users or more.

Direct message (DM). A DM sends a private message to another Twitter user. In order for them to receive this private message, they need to be following you. In order for you to receive a DM back, you need to be following them. To send a DM, use “D,” plus a space, plus the recipient’s Twitter handle. Do not use the @ symbol when you send a DM.

Tweep. A nickname used to describe a Twitter user. (Tweep is shorter name than Twitterer and originates from the terms “Twitter” and “people,” or “peeps.”) Tweeps describes more than one tweep.

Follower. Someone who has opted in to receive your tweets in their Twitter Steam.

Following. Those who you have opted in to receive tweets from.

Friend. When a mutual Follower/Following relationship exists between two users.

Twitterverse. Describes the Twitter community at large—i.e., the Twitter universe.

Hashtag. The hashtag is a way of identifying a tweet related to a particular subject. The hashtag protocol is the hash or pound sign (#) directly followed by the word, words, or characters someone has assigned to that subject—the fewer characters, the better. For example, the hashtag for this book will be #TMHAD, an abbreviation for “Twitter Marketing: An Hour a Day.”

Twitter by the Numbers

Twitter does not currently release the number of active accounts using the service. Independent market research companies, however, continually analyze Twitter’s traffic and growth, which has been substantial. If understanding the definition of Twitter is any indication, Twitter most certainly has a lot of people’s attention. Sites that monitor Wikipedia traffic show that the Twitter definition page, or article, jumped from being the 70th most accessed page in February 2009 to being in the Top 25 of all accessed pages on Wikipedia for March and April 2009, the latest statistics available at the time of this writing. Another source estimates that over a million people viewed the Wikipedia article for Twitter in May 2009. This is substantial when you consider that there are over three million articles on Wikipedia. The Twitter article on Wikipedia was created March 11, 2007 and has been repeatedly edited—2,183 times as of this writing. Nielsen statistics indicate that Twitter experienced an unprecedented 1,382 percent growth rate between February 2008 and February 2009, leaping from 475,000 to 7 million unique monthly visitors in the span of one year. This makes Twitter the fastest-growing social network for that time period (Figure 1.2). As of May 2009, Compete.com estimated Twitter to have 19.7 million unique monthly visitors, which ranks Twitter as the third-largest social network, behind Facebook and MySpace.

Demographically, Twitter is split closely between male and female audiences. As of May 2009, Quantcast reported that 55 percent of Twitter users were female (Figure 1.3). In June 2009, Sysomos, a social media analytics company, measured the gender breakdown of Twitter at 53 percent female and 47 percent male. For that same time period, Hitwise, a service that tracks data passing through Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and measures Twitter.com traffic, came up with similar numbers, citing the gender breakdown of Twitter as 51.5 percent female and 48.5 percent male. But a Harvard Business School study released around this same time argued that Twitter is very “male-centric,” despite the larger number of female users. The study found that both sexes are more likely to follow more men than they are to follow women on Twitter, and that men are almost twice as likely to follow other men than women. Men have 15 percent more followers than women, and men are more likely to have reciprocal Twitter relationships (Male A follows Male B, who in turn follows back Male A). Study authors find these results so atypical that they describe them as “stunning … on a typical online social network, most of the activity is focused around women—men follow content produced by women they do and do not know, and women follow content produced by women they know.”

Figure 1.2 Twitter’s year-over-year growth

Figure 1.3 Twitter’s narrow gender divide

Personally, I question whether the Harvard findings will stand up over time, and I would also like to see a study that analyzes gender and “tweep affinity.” Men may have more followers, but I think that’s because they view these relationships in either a casual or business way, whereas women take their Twitter relationships more seriously, and more loyally and frequently tweet among themselves. There’s a whole community of interconnected moms on Twitter. I believe the strength of these tweep affinities is going to matter more over time than sheer numbers indicate.

When it comes to age, there’s some disparity in the statistics. Some say that Twitter, like other social networks, is rooted firmly in the 18-to-34 demographic, claiming this bracket accounts for approximately 47 percent of all its users. Other sources say that Twitter users predominantly fall into the 35- to 49-year-old age bracket, which accounts for 35 percent. In the meantime, a surprisingly large number of seniors tweet, accounting for 21 percent of the Twitter population. Almost all researchers agree, however, that Twitter is not for the youth set, with only 1 percent of Twitter users falling under the age of 17.

What Twitter Is Not

Sometimes explaining Twitter in the context of what it’s not helps to clarify things.

Twitter isn’t accessible only on the Web. Twitter users can communicate via cell phone, mobile devices, or desktop applications.

Twitter isn’t the “new” email or cell phone. Twitter’s 140-character limitation is just that—limiting. For rapid-fire, short communications, Twitter is useful. However, email and telephones can still do a lot more than Twitter can. Twitter is just another tool in the digital communicator’s toolkit.

Twitter isn’t a form of instant messenger. Although it’s true that Twitter shares many of the same characteristics as instant messaging or chat applications, the two operate using different technology, offer different functionality, and serve different purposes.

Twitter isn’t a micro version of your blog. Although many users exploit Twitter to tease and link to every new blog post, using Twitter only in this manner is considered poor practice. Your tweets should be varied, with original content. Otherwise, why would anyone else want to read them?

Twitter isn’t private by any means. Unless you lock them down, be prepared for your tweets to be read, responded to, and possibly forwarded (retweeted) by perfect strangers. It’s almost pointless to be on Twitter and lock down your tweets unless you never want to be engaged by the greater community—the Twitterverse. This piece of advice, however, does not apply to direct messages, which are private.

Twitter isn’t a replacement for Facebook, MySpace, or other social networks. Rather, Twitter can be a complement to social networks, as well as a different, albeit powerful, standalone tool.

Twitter isn’t a competition. Having more followers does not equal having more authority, influence, or expertise. As you’ll learn soon, many different types of people with different agendas are using Twitter to seek different types of personal gain. Don’t get sucked into making Twitter a popularity contest.

Table 1.1 provides a quick look at how Twitter is similar to and different from other communication platforms.

Table 1.1 Twitter Compared to Other Popular Platforms

Twitter’s Technology

Twitter uses a proprietary message-routing system that processes text-based messages from the Web, SMS, mobile Web, and instant messages. It also allows outside entities, known collectively as third-party applications, to access its servers via its open-source application program interface (API) to pass data (messages and user information) back and forth. Twitter’s flexible, extensible platform has given it wide reach as developers create new applications, tools, directories, functions, and the like. All of these Twitter solutions attract attention, trial and use, and subsequent mention by the Twitter community at large, which then helps to further broaden interest in Twitter. Many users prefer such third-party apps as their primary means of using Twitter, which often replaces entirely the need to go to the Twitter website.

On a simpler level, Twitter’s technology can be divided into two key components: the Web and its mobile counterpart.

Twittering on the Web

The Twitter website itself is programmed using the Ruby on Rails web application framework, which is popular with Twitter’s developers due to its facility for rapid development and ease of maintenance. Twitter users who tweet from the Web at http://www.twitter.com. need only a basic web browser to use the service and access all of its features.

Twittering on the Go

Tweeting from a mobile phone while on the go is a slightly more complicated process. Twitter provides a special web-based interface at http://m.Twitter.com. It is a pared- down, faster-loading version of the original that works particularly well with browser- enabled mobile devices. If your device does not have a browser, mobile tweeting will require learning a few special keypad commands. It’s important to note that using Twitter while on the go is possible from any mobile device with SMS capability. Just remember this: although using Twitter is free, text messaging (receiving and sending) is not. If you plan to use Twitter via text messaging, you might want to monitor your cell phone bills and upgrade to an unlimited text-messaging plan if your tweets really start to add up.

Follow the Leader

Twitter’s unique subscription system allows you to follow (or unfollow) other users’ tweets, similar to subscribing to or unsubscribing from a blog or email list. Among the statistics that Twitter displays prominently on every user’s profile page (Figure 1.4) are a followers count (the number of people following someone) as well as a following count (the number of people someone follows).

Figure 1.4 Not surprisingly, Jack Dorsey (Twitter cofounder and chairman) is a very popular guy on Twitter.

Twitter’s very public statistics promote something of a popularity-contest atmosphere within Twitter. People may pass instant judgments about the caliber of a user based on their followers/following counts, and not necessarily on the quality of their tweets. There are some who have gone so far as to propose that Twitter do away with these followers/following statistics for this very reason.

Almost unilaterally, however, Twitter users aim to avoid losing followers. The best way for users to retain followers is by maintaining an active, engaging tweet stream that remains relevant and beneficial to their audience (Figure 1.5).

Figure 1.5 Sephora’s tweet stream demonstrates active, engaging, and varied tweets.

The authentic side of the Twitterverse is an ecosystem that respects and rewards quality over quantity—both with tweets and tweeps—and reduces the signal-to-noise ratio when it comes to producing quality tweets. Most respectable tweeps frown on spammers, annoying tweeps, those who tweet too much, and those who take “What are you doing?” too literally. The objectives for brands utilizing Twitter should be the same: produce great content, be engaged with your community, seek out those with like-minded interests, and the followers will come. Ultimately, this kind of interaction-attraction will help support your brand.

Twitter’s Open Source API

From the start, Twitter facilitated its rise in popularity by opening itself up to integration with other tools and applications built by web developers. Twitter’s open-source API, the means by which these developers access Twitter’s server to pass information back and forth, has led to the continuous development or upgrading of solutions that improve how people use Twitter or extend its functionality. Many such applications are simple. They are designed to do just one thing and do it well. It’s, therefore, typical of tweeps to use a wide variety of specialized applications that suit their needs to improve the overall Twitter experience.

There are hundreds of Twitter applications, and new ones are constantly being developed. There are some common ones, however, that will be mentioned throughout this book, so they’re worth listing here:

• TweetDeck is a popular downloadable desktop application with higher functionality to receive, read, respond, manage, group, and search tweets.

• Twirl is another early front-runner in downloadable desktop applications.

• Seesmic is a desktop application giving TweetDeck a run. It has now come out with a web-based version of its app.

• TwitterFox is a Firefox browser add-in application.

• Tweetie is a popular iPhone Twitter application.

• Twitterfon is another popular iPhone Twitter client.

• Tweetlater is a web-based application that lets you schedule tweets for future posting.

• Hootsuite is similar to Tweetlater. It combines with URL shortening and tracking metrics.

• CoTweet is an application that manages multiple users responding to single or multiple accounts with multiple users.

Obviously, there are many reasons why Twitter has grown so popular so quickly. The industry now questions if it can sustain this growth and, if so, what Twitter plans on doing to monetize it. In the meantime, we’ll focus this book on ways in which you can monetize Twitter for business marketing gain.

Twittering on the Go

Tweeting from a mobile phone while on the go is a slightly more complicated process. Twitter provides a special Web-based interface at http://m.Twitter.com, a pared-down, faster-loading version of the original that works particularly well with browser-enabled mobile devices. If your device does not have a browser, mobile tweeting requires a few special keypad commands due to the lack of a Web-based interface (see Table 1.2). It’s important to note that using Twitter while on the go is possible from any mobile device with SMS capability.

Table 1.2 Twitter Mobile-Only Commands

CommandSyntaxPurposeTurn OnONTurns all mobile-device notifications on.Turn OffOFFTurns all mobile-device notifications off.Turn On UserON usernameTurns all notifications/tweets from a specific user on.Turn Off UserOFF usernameTurns all notifications/tweets from a specific user off.Stop (same as QUIT)STOPStops all Twitter messages from being sent to your phone.Quit (same as STOP)QUITStops all Twitter messages from being sent to your phone.FollowFOLLOW usernameFollow a user and begin receiving their notifications/tweets.LeaveLEAVE usernameStop receiving notif ications/tweets from a specific user.

Twitter’s Rapid Ascent

Despite the enthusiasm among early adopters when Twitter was first launched, most of the public struggled to understand Twitter’s appeal. At first, many users wondered, “Do people really want to know every little thing I do?”

Part of the initial hurdle in attracting users to Twitter was that people were just tweeting about the mundane. In its first few months before today’s tools, applications, and enhancements arrived, it was hard to recognize Twitter’s real value. As Twitter began to catch on, however, clever users started to use Twitter to share links and news and to integrate Twitter feeds into their blogs via RSS. Twitter’s technology allowed developers to access its servers, and then they released new tools that made Twitter more manageable and interesting to more people.

As is common with unanticipated growth spurts in web technology, Twitter’s increased use led to problems. By midyear 2007, Twitter began experiencing server-capacity problems related to its growing number of users, prompting the creation of the now infamous Fail Whale, which was both a humorous graphic and quick-to-catch-on description of the recurring circumstance (Figure 1.6).

Figure 1.6 Twitter’s infamous Fail Whale

Despite its technical problems, Twitter cultivated a bold and fiercely loyal user base, while developing its own sense of culture, etiquette, and even vocabulary. Twitter is one of the most unique social networks in this respect, as many of its social mores developed out of its requirement for brevity. Twitter users tend to be very matter-of-fact when it comes to tweeting, and very vocal about other users’ faux pas. Because of this, new users, particularly big brands who by their very nature are targets and tend to be called out faster by the Twitter community, should be well aware and respectful of Twitter’s unique culture so as to avoid engaging recklessly. That said, Twitter is also known to be one of the most honest, helpful, and welcoming online communities, and its reputation is perhaps one of the main reasons behind its surge in popularity over the course of 2007.

In 2008, Twitter attracted the media’s attention when some American presidential candidates began using it on the campaign trail, most notably Barack Obama. According to Hitwise, on election day 2008, traffic on Twitter.com alone rose 43 percent. Later that year, Twitter users in India live-tweeted the horrific events of the 2008 Mumbai attacks as the tragedy unfolded. It was a significant turning point in Twitter’s history, as people began to rely on this simple but effective service as a source for breaking news. In the summer 2009, Twitter again influenced history during the after-math of the Iranian elections, which resulted in national tumult, culminating with the Iranian government’s ousting of the traditional news media. During that time, the only breaking news came from tweets from the Iranian opposition.

Because Twitter is mobile, tweeps who are first on the scene of breaking news are able to get the word out quickly and efficiently. Smart phones not only let people tweet; they can also take and upload photos, enriching the value of a tweet. These days, news often breaks first on Twitter, and the media follows suit. Not to be usurped, many media outlets now deliver their news feeds via Twitter, as well as directly engaging with readers.

By the start of 2009, Twitter’s popularity reached critical mass. Once thought of as a trivial fad, Twitter was now making headlines and becoming a household word. More brands began integrating Twitter into their social media strategies. Realizing its importance, entities from large corporations to small businesses were also racing to claim their Twitter handles, hoping to avoid the domain-squatting issues of the late 1990s.

Twitter has also become wildly popular in the mainstream media as more celebrities have joined the fray, reaching a pinnacle in April 2009 when Oprah (@oprah) signed up for Twitter live on her show with the already popular actor and producer Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk) in the role of guide, and drawing 76,000 followers to her account within less than 15 minutes of her first tweet! Popular tech blog TechCrunch estimated that Oprah’s show alone may have brought more than one million new users to Twitter. Not long after, Kutcher laid down a challenge to acquire more than one mil lion users before CNN’s Breaking News (@cnnbrk). (See Figure 1.7.) Since then, Kutcher has completely surpassed Breaking News and is currently the Number One “most popular” Twitterer, as measured by the number of followers.

Figure 1.7 Ashton Kutcher’s progress against CNN’s Breaking News

Twitter’s Financial Future

Twitter’s popularity has also attracted potential mega-buyers. In November 2008, there were multiple unconfirmed reports that Facebook offered to acquire Twitter for $500 million of its stock, which included a cash component. The offer was roundly rejected. In April 2009, rumors furiously swirled that Google was also going to make an offer to acquire Twitter. Google squarely denied the rumor. In May 2009, Apple too, it was rumored, was interested in acquiring Twitter. To date, Twitter has rejected all offers to be acquired, stating on its blog that it intends to go it on its own:

http://blog.twitter.com/2009/04/sometimes-we-talk.html

All of these rumors have many of us wondering, “What is the future of Twitter?” Twitter seems to be investing in its future by courting investors, hiring experienced players, and keeping the media grasping at every publicly announced nuance or teased piece of information. For example, in March 2008 the Wall Street Journal reported that Twitter cofounder Biz Stone alluded to companies paying for more features in the future because Twitter had hired a product manager to develop these yet-to-be-defined features. In June 2009, a general partner of a firm that invested in Twitter hinted to The New York Times that Twitter’s monetization lay in ecommerce, namely “links to products and turnkey payment mechanisms” and “filters and feeds to sort tweets by whom they are from and what they are about.” That same month, Bloomberg.com reported that Biz Stone said that Twitter could make money by verifying corporate accounts. In August 2009, Biz Stone taped a television interview on the PBS show Tavis Smiley and alluded to the company’s plans to monetize itself by selling more robust data-analysis features to brand companies. In September 2009, The Wall Street Journal reported that Twitter was close to raising as much as $100 million from multiple investors who valuated Twitter at $1 billion!

However Twitter plans to make money in the long run, one thing’s for certain: plenty of people in Twitterdom will have an opinion about their decision.

What Makes Tweeps Tick?

Twitter creates value because it can be used in many clever and innovative ways to serve many different purposes (Figure 1.8).

Figure 1.8 How and why Twitter is being used

For a marketer, it’s just as important to understand the motivations behind why people use Twitter as it is to understand how Twitter serves as a marketing tool. What makes people want to follow and be followed? Why have so many people reluctantly joined Twitter, only soon to become Twitter addicts (#twitteraddict)? In short, what makes Twitter users tick? Let’s take a closer look at some of the reasons why Twitterers use Twitter; understanding this will in turn help explain why Twitter continues to gain such widespread popularity.

Keeping in Touch Twitter is great for socializing. You can socialize with friends, clients, customers, prospects, the media, and anyone else with whom you might regularly be in touch. A single tweet is broadcast to all of your followers at once, making it easy to let everyone know where you are and what you’re up to.

Making New Friends Some people want to use Twitter strictly to find new friends and contacts with whom to cyber-socialize. Twitter’s low barriers to connecting make this especially easy.

Connecting with Like-Minded People The majority of Twitter users are people looking to connect with others who have similar interests and discuss the latest news and trends in their circles. Enthusiasts of all types are connected through Twitter.

Example: There are tons of online gamers on Twitter who tweet about all things video games, love to “talk smack,” and find new opponents.

Voyeurism Twitter’s open system allows anyone—even non-Twitter users—to view whatever you tweet. Someone might want to keep an eye on another tweep’s goings-on without the other knowing it. Twitter makes this possible.

Event Planning Twitter can be an easy way to organize an offline gathering of like-minded people. In fact, a TweetUp is Twitterese for “meet up” in which a group of tweeps interested in meeting face-to-face plan to congregate at a determined time and place, usually associated with an existing event or subject matter and usually in an informal setting.

Example: I initiated the idea of a TweetUp at the 2009 Search Engine Strategies conference in New York and passed my idea on to the conference organizers, who then suggested the time and place and tweeted about it to all their followers. A healthy-sized group of people turned up and stayed several hours—networking, talking about the conference, and “stimulating the economy” of a local watering hole.

Activism On Twitter, it’s easy to find and/or recruit people willing to support or work your cause, whether charitable, medical, environmental, or political.

Example: Barack Obama’s campaign managers used the @barackobama Twitter account as an essential tool for finding and organizing support for their candi date. They were obviously very successful. Twitter has also been used to help severely ill people find donors or get medical assistance they might otherwise not be able to afford.

Entertainment There’s no shortage of entertainment on Twitter, whether it’s celebrities who tweet; bands updating their fans; comedians telling 140-character jokes; links to YouTube videos; sports scores; or otherwise fun, funny, or interesting people and entities using Twitter to amuse or be amused.

Example: Shaq O’Neal (@THE_REAL_SHAQ), Britney Spears (@britneyspears), and Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) all use Twitter to both inform and goose their fans.

It is noteworthy that there are so many Twitter imposters posing as celebrities that Twitter had to create a verified accounts system that consists of a seal on a user’s pro file page once Twitter confirms that the user is who he/she/it claims to be. Currently, Twitter’s Verified Accounts are offered only to high-profile individuals likely to have “impersonation problems or identity confusion,” and not businesses. The only infor mation Twitter currently offers about its verified accounts can be found here: http://twitter.com/help/verified. Twitter has hinted at selling Verified Accounts to busi nesses down the road, however, as a revenue stream.

Getting a Company’s Latest Tweets