Twitter must hold the record for most news appearances by a company with 40 employees or less, and the week of Easter (or as they say here in Spain Easter Week) saw more than its fair share of Twitter related stories. So, rather than pull my hair out deciding which to comment on, I’ve decided to post links to my 4 favorites. I hope to hear your comments and feel free to expand on your thoughts as there is no need to limit them to 140 characters.
Holy Twitter!
Despite their theological differences, both protesant preacher and catholic priest must agree that mobile phones and electronic devices are the bane of the 21st century church service, right? Not so!
WRAL in Raleigh, North Carolina reports that the congregation of the Next Level Church in Union County tweeted away during their Easter service this week. You can read about it at the WRAL website by following this link:
http://www.wral.com/news/state/story/4941623/
And Yahoo reports that starting at noon on Good Friday, the Trinity Church on Wall Street tweeted The Passion of Christ — in 140-character messages of course! Over a 3-hour period, faithful from around the world were able to hear the greatest story ever told on their computers and mobile devices. I think Gutenberg would have approved. Read about this one on Yahoo by following this link:
http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20090410/ap_on_hi_te/rel_twitter_passion_play
Fresh Baked Scone Anyone?
The Albion Bakery in London and a nearby company that produces a device called BakeryTweet have teamed up to offer customers exactly what they were looking for — dibs on the freshest goods! Tweets like “Lovely loaves just out of the oven. Hurry” and “Hot Cross Buns — fresh and hot like it’s name… come and get them!” are now being received daily by baguette and muffin lovers alike. Read about it at Google News by following this link:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iIgCLG0fRo40rP-hNwT54BwCTIBA
The Teen Who Took On Twitter
I believe that David was a mere teenager when he slew Goliath, so this story has been told before. 17-year-old Michael “Mikeyy” Mooney was searching for a way to promote his own social networking site StalkDaily.com. As of this morning, he will need to purchase some more server capacity as he has had to shut down due to the massive increase in traffic. Mikeyy decided to create a Twitter worm, which attacked Twitter’s network four times this weekend, complete with links to his competing site. With Twitter needing to find a source of revenue, maybe the lawsuit avenue is not such a bad idea. Mikkey might be losing his netbook and ’94 Hyundai soon! Read about it at the Telegraph website by following this link:
And as always, I’d like to hear your thoughts.
I’d like to know:
(1) Which of the 4 Twitter stories did you find most interesting?
(2) Should Twitter ignore or vigorously prosecute the 17-year-old who attacked its network?
(3) Have you seen any other innovative uses of Twitter by businesses or organizations in your area? If so, we’d love to hear about them!
6 Comments
Thanks for commenting Angel.
I see your point. We are at risk of being overwhelmed with messages and information (there was an interesting article recently in the Financial Times on internet information overload and what it means for companies).
However, I see Twitter as being different from the other social networking sites, because it has a fundamental purpose. Who is going to check a Facebook page to see if a bakery has fresh bread? But you will easily allow the bakery to send a 140-character message to your computer or mobile device to let you know.
The quality versus quantity argument comes into play here too, however, do not underestimate a medium where businesses can engage their customers in a cost effective manner. Twitter is still in its infancy and more innovative uses will be born, I'm sure!
(Financial Times Articles)
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c4bb7d3e-27c1-11de-9b77-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8c457976-278c-11de-9b77-00144feabdc0.html
The point is:
How many followers really read posts? I mean, in my case, I never read all tweets from the people I follow, I only read some.
There is no way of measure the quality, and it seems to me like having as many contacts as possible in Linkedin or as many friends as possible in Facebook or Tuenti.
This just in. Ashton Kutcher has beaten out CNN and Britney Spears to become the first Twitter-er with 1 million followers. You can read the story here:
http://tech.yahoo.com/news/afp/20090417/tc_afp/entertainmentusmediainternetkutchertwittercnnresult
Congratulations Ashton!
The Race Is On!
Twitter is back in the news again today. AP is reporting that we will soon know who the first Twitter-er is with 1 million followers. Will one of the current leaders hit the million mark in the coming days? Or will an outsider slip by our current leaders to take the prize? Stay tuned to TheNetScoop for details!
TWITTER-ERS WITH THE MOST FOLLOWERS (as reported by AP on April 16, 2009)
1. CNN Breaking News (945,000 followers)
2. (tie) Ashton Kutcher (910,000 followers)
2. (tie) Britney Spears (910,000 followers)
And what does Kutcher think about his Twitter fame being second only to CNN's? "I find it astonishing that one person can actually have as big of a voice online as what an entire media company can on Twitter. I just thought that was kind of an amazing comment on the state of our media."
Couldn't have said it better myself!
Thank you for posting Marcela!
As the web gets more and more mobile, I think we will see even more interesting uses for Twitter and other mobile internet applications to, as you say, "keep customers in the loop." And what business does not want to "increase sales"?
I can think of several other industries that could really take advantage of this approach. Imagine a similar service in transportation (buses, subways, trains, taxis, etc.), daily news (I am already receiving several updates per hour from the New York Times on Twitter), or politics (Mr. Obama owes at least part of the credit for his presidential victory to his vast army of social networkers).
My favorite story is the one on the London Bakery. It is an excellent way to promote and reinforce loyalty in your regular and would-be customers, and what is more, it can increase sales as keeping your customers in the loop will encourage them to stop by more frequently.
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