twitter 101

Social Media

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Twitter 101

Shawn Morton & Rochelle DurbanFebruary 2009Social Media Brown Bag Series

Agenda

• What is Twitter?

• History

• Twitter facts

• Users and usage

• Why it became so popular?

• Who is using it?

• How are people using it?

• How can you use it?

• Demo

What is Twitter?

140 characters “I am giving a Twitter 101 presentation to a group of my colleagues at

Nationwide in Columbus. Explaining the 140-character per tweet limit.”

History of Twitter in 140 characters

@ev sells Blogger to GOOG. Uses GOOG $ to make ODEO. Twitter idea comes at ODEO team brainstorm w/ @biz, @Jack. Usage explodes at SXSWi ’07.

Read full insider’s history here

More Twitter facts

• Jack Dorsey, an engineer at ODEO, is credited with coming up with the idea

• Originally called “twttr” because it was an SMS only service and SMS shortcodes are limited to 5 characters

• Messages weren’t limited to 140 characters at first. Longer messages were split into much SMS messages

• The 140 character limit was chosen to allow for a username to be added to the beginning of each message

• Launched quietly into beta on March 31, 2006

• Suffered through a lot of growing pains early on (“Fail whale”)

• Have raised $20 million +, but have no revenue stream

Twitter usage (as of December 2008)

1,176,217,787

5.6 millionNumber of unique users visiting Twitter in December 2008 (up 700% YoY)

Number of updates (or “tweets”) posted since October 2006

Why did Twitter become so popular?

Simplicity

Open API

Mobile

• User interface

• Functionality

• Blog integration (Twitterfeed)

• Desktop apps (Twhirl, Tweetdeck)

• Mobile apps (Twitterberry)

• Mashups (Twittervision)

• Search (Summize)

• Photos (Twitpic)

• Tweets can be sent and received via text

• No need for a data plan to use Twitter

Why did Twitter become so popular?

Timing• SXSWi in March 2007

• Got Twitter in front of the right audience at the right time

Who is using it?

Who is using it?

Brands on Twitter

How are they using it?

Sharing info with friends/family/co-workers• Most common use for Twitter

• Often very personal or seemingly mundane

• Easiest types of updates to mock

How are they using it?

Asking or answering questions• Users leverage the power of Twitter’s 5 million monthly unique users to get answers• Anyone can find your question and send you an answer• Because posts are public, one answer can help others with the same question• Search.twitter.com is a great way to find an expert

How are they using it?

Marketing a product or service• Becoming more and more common

• Used to be limited to small web startups, but now large brands are participating

• Can be effective when done well.

• Southwest posts Twitter-only specials on airfare

Covering or following live events• Twitter has become a source for breaking news before major media picks it up

• Mumbai terrorist attacks, US Air crash on the Hudson

• Used to cover live events as well

• SXSWi, Consumer Electronics Show, MacWorld Expo, election, sports

How are they using it?

Providing customer service• Monitoring keywords to find customer praise or customer complaints.

• Responding to customers in a timely fashion

• Comcast uses Twitter to overcome call center delays; staff of 15 dedicated to it

How are they using it?

How should I use Twitter?

• Subscribe generously

• Post regularly

• Be responsive

• Ask for help

• For brands, monitor and reply carefully

Social Media

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Twitter Demo

Key features

• The interface• Posting• Replying• Retweeting• Following/Followers• Direct messages• Favorites• Search• Mobile