While the digerati has been enjoying a love-in with Twitter for the past year or so, it’s fair to say Twitter is not yet a mainstream tool.
But there are growing signs that’s quickly changing. Case in point in an article in the New York Times looking at Twitter and other micro-blogging services are increasingly becoming useful communication tools for businesses users.
Workers say several aspects of microblogging make the medium well-suited to internal communication. The messages are very quick to write and read, replies are optional, and there is nothing to delete or file. Moreover, people can glance at posts as they come in or read a batch during breaks.
When you think about it, tools such as Twitter and instant-messaging are ideal for the corporate environment where you want to quickly touch base without bothering someone with an e-mail or phone call. Of course, it has taken awhile for this to become a reality because instant-messaging, for example, has never been viewed as a serious corporate tool.
As more companies explore micro-blogging as a way to communicate externally and internally, a growing number of start-ups such as Yammer and Present.ly are going after the market opportunity with products especially geared towards the business user. You wonder how long it will take for Twitter to climb on the bandwagon.
More: TechCrunchIT (this a new product?) describes the NYT as going “nuts for micromessaging”.
Technorati Tags: microblogging, twitpay
5 Comments
Microblogging is a huge opportunity for any business. Most of our work is still done by email which means it's private by default – no way for people to observe and participate in our workflow without being directly invited.
I think microblogging will be embraced by businesses as tools are created that meet their specific needs, including security.
I think microblogging offer corporations an opportunity to do more than just touch base with colleagues. For example, I know of one business where staff have been using an internal microblogging tool to report on initiatives they are working on. The same as we use hash tags to monitor conversations on a particular topic, executives can track progress on projects that are underway.
Are you suggesting that the perfect corporate microblog hasn't been created yet or that companies are more likely to want customized solutions?
Probably a combination of both. First, companies need to get comfortable with the idea of using microblogs as a communications tool. Then, suppliers will need to demonstrate they can provide the features (including security) that businesses want/need. It may be that companies such as Yammer and Present.ly are already well-positioned but adoption will take time simply because CIOs need to be won over by anything new.