Tweet, Twit, Twitter

I have a new addiction. It feeds the voyeuristic and slightly ADHD side of me. You’ve probably heard of it, heck, you may already be imbibing

I’m talking about Twitter. And I must admit, I held off as long as I could because I just plain didn’t understand the point. Thanks to Tac Anderson (of TechBoise and HP) and the friendly folks at a recent Boise Blogger meetup for showing me the way. My hesitation had been that I didn’t understand how it would help in my day to day work, let alone benefit clients. But I took the plunge and gave it a whirl - here I am. Turns out, the rest of the PR world is doing so (or dipping their toe in the pool) as well.

Great Twitter update from Steve Rubel on the adoption of the technology…

“Internet visits to Twitter.com are up 8 fold. In the past three months, visits have more than doubled and traffic continues to climb, up 60% in the past month.

It’s becoming a front line for customer service. At a minimum, every consumer facing company should be monitoring the chatter. Even better, participating can cut problems off at the pass or even better foster evangelists.”

And for PR pros, we all know that monitoring the chatter is key. In addition to checking in with the blogs that track/critique/comment on your industry - you need to add Twitter to the list. Not just to check on chatter, but to get insight into the communities and media you currently work with - or want to pitch. The J world - and not just the outlets themselves like CNN, USA Today, BBC - are online. Here’s a good list from Harry Hoover at MyCreativeTeam of journalists on Twitter.

Personally, being on Twitter has helped me connect with the vibrant network of marketing and communications professionals in Boise; request and receive feedback and thoughts on clients & projects; and gain some valuable knowledge and insight in a variety of fields. It’s a global coffee talk or the best random college class you’ve ever sat in on. You’d be amazed at what you can say and learn from 140 characters.

-Jess