The Buzz-matic Automatron

I am intrigued by “tweeting.” You can do it, too, on Twitter http://twitter.com/. This may be familiar. I’ve blogged on it before, elsewhere.

Twitter is a free service that lets you keep in touch with people using the web, your phone, or IM. In Twitter, you can be a Follower of others, for whom you would receive updates, and you can be Followed, where others sign on to receive your updates. Messages are short (140 characters) and can be sent to Followers by these various distribution methods. Plus, you can update through Twitter from your phone, email or online at Twitter.com.

Twitter is another brainchild of Evan Williams http://evhead.com/. You’re reading this on one of his earlier platforms: Blogspot.

In the last few weeks, I’ve noticed an upsurge in information on Twitter in most media. Clearly, there is a wave of discovery going on, which I take to mean that Twitter has reached some sort of critical mass where its utility is interesting to many. Perhaps Twitter was originally intended for social use only, but it’s no great leap to think of ways that it could operate to the benefit of a firm or individual’s marketing efforts.

I’m imagining the marketing use by a law firm of Twitter. My first thought is of the lawyer, who tweets her activities to a group of lawyer followers (practice/industry group) or marketing/biz dev staff, instantly informing them when she’s entering court, visiting a client, taking a contact to dinner, meeting a new prospect. On the service side, I can think of another lawyer, whose client followers get a message as he files a brief, meets the opposing counsel, deposes a witness, hears a ruling. I’m sure there are more creative uses that can be dreamed up.

I see Twitter as a sort of “build your own buzz” mechanism. Used with other social networks, you could amass Followers who are interested in your professional activities. You would probably want to create a separate Twitter identity for this purpose, otherwise your tweets about attending the football game or shopping at the mall would be going to your business Followers. Attaching a link to Twitter on your blog or Web site, including it on your email signature, all have some function in magnifying the buzz-quotient. As long as you Twitter regularly and include your career activities, you’ll have an automatic method to show your energy, creativity, participation and accomplishments.

There’s a video that explains Twitter http://www.commoncraft.com/Twitter on commoncraft.com. If you’re interested, I found Paul Colligan’s http://www.paulcolligan.com/ free Webinar http://www.paulcolligan.com/replays/ (password=Webinars) extremely helpful. I twitter as Russ23229. Send me an invite and I’ll Follow you everywhere.