There's already too much written about a certain micro-blogging service. The Guardian reported on 27th March that so far that month 684 articles had appeared in national and local newspapers that included the word "twitter". This compares to 206 in January 2009, and 40 in November 2008. The irony is that these articles often seem to be written by people who have not used the service or who have been on it since, er, they were asked to write an article about it.
Many are still trying to work out exactly how social tools like twitter might be useful for business. Meanwhile, businesses are just getting on with it and finding out for themselves – by trying it out. Research published by O2 indicates that small businesses are far more twitter-savvy than their larger counterparts, and are seeing tangible benefits. It estimates that 700,000 UK small businesses are now using the service. The Federation of Small Businesses has even started tweeting. I've worked with a few small businesses. The one thing they don't have is the luxury of time and resource to waste on anything that doesn't bring return. But the one thing they always need, is a direct route to customer engagement.
Some businesses are showing the way. Others are still experimenting (as Mark would say, lighting lots of fires). The kind of experimentation shown by the Guardian and Sky in their G20 coverage last week. The kind of experimentation which is needed now more than ever. The kind that I think should be applauded.
Strange then, that some sectors of the business media don't agree. Perhaps they could learn from their audience and go where their customers are.
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