To Tweet or Not to Tweet?

As much as a fan as I am for Facebook, Twitter is on the opposite side of the spectrum. I just do not understand the point of knowing what everyone is doing at all times of the day. When I hear about using networking websites to improve business, I can see the positive aspects of LinkedIn, a social networking site used primarily for professional use. When I worked for a pharmaceutical company over the summer, I created my own LinkedIn profile so that I could search for clients and their most recent contact information. I know that if I was on Twitter, my boss would not have been very happy with me.

So this got me wondering, has is now become acceptable to use Twitter in the business world? I know that even my socially challenged dad, CEO of Camargo Pharmaceutical Services has even told me that many of his employees are finding contacts for the company on Twitter. I started surfing the web to see what other professionals have said about one of the newest social networking websites. Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com said, “We’ve found that Twitter has been a great way for us to connect on a more personal level with our employees and customers. We use it to help build our brand, not drive direct sales. It’d be like asking how does providing a telephone number for customer service translate into new business when they are mostly non-sales-related calls. In the long term, Twitter helps drive repeat customers and word of mouth, but we’re not looking to it as a way of driving immediate sales.”

There is another interesting article on the business week website that tells different CEO's takes on Twitter.

I can definitely see the positive reasons that a business should use Twitter. It can help communication between the employees internally, and benefit networking externally. Also, it is easy for a company to track what people are saying about their own company, such as with their product names or industry, and this is a great way for them to get feedback. Although I am not "tweeting" yet myself, maybe when I am working at a real job someday, I can join the revolution. Until then, I'll stick to my facebook.