Twitter's 20 Uses for Business and Government

Twitter is in an era of rapid evolution and global experimentation. The business sector is looking for new ways to use this powerful tool. Here are 20 Twitter uses I predict will gain traction in the coming months and years:

  1. Mobile Business. In traditional retail, customers have to travel to the retailer’s fixed location. Unpredictability makes mobile retail tough on customers. Imagine if you used Twitter to broadcast your location throughout the day. Your market reach goes from fixed radius to limitless in an instant.
  2. Gas Prices. It should be easy enough to mash local data from GasBuddy.com or a similar source into a Twitter feed. I want to know where the cheap gas is today and forward that info to my followers.
  3. Coupon Alerts. I wrote about this a few weeks ago. When Starbucks sends me a Twitter alert that a new coupon is available on its website, I’ll be standing in line within the hour.
  4. Press Releases. Journalists will appreciate the ability to self-select the organizations they want news, and 140 character limit forces you to get to the point.
  5. Traffic Alerts. @iamvinnie created a Charlotte traffic alert by plugging in data from WCNC’s traffic alert system and other sources. It has some bugs, but apps like this could be immensely useful to commuters once they’re refined.
  6. Public Health. Twitter can help improve public health communications by providing instant updates on public health threats, alerting citizens to vaccination options, advertising blood drives, and announcing the availability of public health resources.
  7. Sports Scores. Okay, so you can already get scores on your phone, but what’s one more touchpoint for a crazed fan?
  8. Real-time Crime Reports. Pros: Citizens alert to danger, fast response to help police catch criminals. Cons: Reckless vigilantism? Sensationalist journalism? Ambulance chasing lawyers?
  9. Political Activism. This may already be underway, but Twitter has massive potential for organizing rallies, protests, phone calls to elected officials and other democratic exercises.
  10. Doctor Appointments. Whenever I need to see my doctor, he’s booked solid for four weeks straight. Wouldn’t it be nice if his office could send out a Tweet when a slot opens up?
  11. Emergency Alerts. During natural disasters, power outages can make TV news an unreliable source of info. Twitter was a critical communication tool during the California wildfires. Other emergency responders should have a Twitter plan, too.
  12. Emergency Response. On a similar note, imagine a rapid response volunteer army that could be deployed in a disaster. Example: Need help w/sandbags at Steele Creek church.
  13. Citizen Journalism. Newspapers are laying off hundreds of employees. The industry wonders whether print will survive. Consumers want news online, and they want it as soon as it breaks. How could the news media use Twittering citizen reporters to meet that demand AND stay alive?
  14. Airline Deals. Dear Southwest Airlines: Please notify me when a first-class seat from Charlotte to Denver opens up at the last minute. Thanks. Also, I’m going to use Twitter to talk you down to $100, okay?
  15. Crowdsourced Concerts. Instead of Toby Keith playing a set playlist, Twittering fans call the shots. Hey @TobyKeith, play “Beer for My Horses!”
  16. Restaurant Reservations. You’re supposed to meet friends at Olive Garden for dinner. Outback is slow, so they Tweet about drink specials available for the next hour. You DM Outback to reserve a table, you Tweet your friends to change plans. True social connectivity.
  17. Auto Sales. Instead of screaming TV commercials, can I just choose the make and model I like, follow that car on Twitter, and receive Tweets when local dealers have cars available? There has to be some way Twitter can get rid of hovering sales reps.
  18. Tech Support. When my email crashes, it would be nice to have some way to talk to my tech support team. Twitter is a reliable communication tool when the email server goes down.
  19. Real Estate Reviews. Ever read a home-for-sale ad that made a home sound like paradise, only to discover it was actually a dump? Imagine how much time you’ll save by Twittering with other homebuyers who saw the house.
  20. Weddings. Can I skip the boring ceremony if I glance at the Twitter highlights? You’ll find me and @thebestman at the open bar.
  • http://lgbusinesssolutions.typepad.com/solutions_to_grow_your_bu/ Lewis Green

    Scott,

    Interesting post and a subject I, too, have been wondering about. On the business side, how do we prevent twittering those areas you suggest from becoming (and being) nothing more than interuptive SPAM?

  • http://prstore.typepad.com Scott Hepburn

    With each of these suggestions, as long as the company makes it clear on its Twitter profile that it will write Tweets of this type, it’s not SPAM. The user can follow or unfollow the company at will.

    An example: Follow @BenJerrysCoupons (or even just @BenJerry) to get special offers via Twitter from Ben & Jerry’s

  • http://www.JoelLibava.com Joel Libava

    Best post I have read about Twitter in months.
    Great job, Scott!
    Joel Libava
    The Franchise King Blog

  • http://strands.com John

    It’s already been mentioned, but it is absolutely necessary for something like this not to be perceived as spam. Maybe opt-in-only services would be the answer. Several of these ideas (IMO) transcend what Twitter has, and fall into the larger category of mobile marketing that will be done though more than just SMS. Everything mobile will be the next platform… and I’m excited to see what it brings :)

  • http://prstore.typepad.com Scott Hepburn

    I agree, John — Twitter is ushering in the much anticipated (by some) mobile marketing era. I think Twitter will be lapped by the field, but it’s pushing us into this arena at last.

    The SPAM concern has come up a lot…I didn’t expect that angle to get so much attention. Since I choose to follow a company at my discretion, I assuemd SPAM would be a less prominent issue. After all, SPAM is “UNSOLICITED” commercial email.

    Appreciate the feedback, everyone!

  • http://iamvinnie.com/ Vinnie

    Let me tackle the few of these that I have experience with:

    2. Gas prices – trust me, I’m working on this one :). The problem is a lack of good data to pull from. Sites that collect this info (i.e. gasbuddy) need to open up more.

    5. Traffic – Since I built @cltraffic :). I don’t pull from WCNC (they reuse someone else’s traffic data, and that company’s licensing terms make it impossible for me to redistribute), I pull from yahoo and traffic.com. There are surprisingly few bugs in my implementation, just limitations, like the rss feeds I pull from only being synced twice an hour. I’m trying to downplay those limitations by allowing people to submit reports themselves, but even then I can’t update more than every 5 minutes or so without twitter’s API limits hitting me. Again, more open data would help here as would greater citizen participation.

    7. Sports – check out @redsoxcast on twitter for an example of how it should be done.

  • http://www.VerticalMeasures.com Arnie

    Darn it! I am really going to have to embrace twitter now.

  • http://www.clevelandrealestatenews.com Carole Cohen

    I’ve watched people all at the same conference tweet each other so they can connect for a drink or idea sharing.

    I love #18!

    Thanks to @franpro (Joel Libva) for tweeting about this post!

  • http://prstore.typepad.com Scott Hepburn

    @Vinnie — Didn’t realize that about the CLTraffic data. Same for gas prices. Sounds like open access to solid, reliable, frequently updated data is a challenge.

    @Arnie — Yeah, man. Twitter failures not withstanding, it’s a very useful too.

    @Carole — HostGator was down again this morning, taking my email with it. Twitter was the reliable alternative. Go figure.

    Here’s a link to my post about conference attendees Twittering during the event:

    http://prstore.typepad.com/marketing_made_simple/2008/06/get-instant-fee.html

  • http://www.sendwordnow.com MG – the Emergency Notification Guru

    Hi Scott,

    The idea of using Twitter as an emergency communications tool is an interesting one. Twitterers broke the news of the recent massive earthquake in China before the mainstream media did.

    However the technology is prone to failure and was not designed with emergency or urgent communications in mind. And twitterers come and go. In a crisis there is no real way to see who has gotten the message, and who has not. I’m not bashing Twitter – it is a viable means of communication, and perhaps could be considered another one of many useful tools that emergency managers employ during a time of crisis.

    I live in New York and am signed up for the public service Notify NYC which hits voice, text and e-mail. The system is purposed for emergency communications and supported by an experienced emergency notification vendor, whom I work for. The system is also designed to handle traffic generated by a mass notification. Its communications infrastructure has been designed specifically with reliability, robustness, and redundancy in mind. It can quickly send notifications to thousands of people in a way that they are used to receiving it-through multiple outlets, including voice and text alerts. Not everyone twitters, but the majority of the population checks their text messages, answers the phone and checks their e-mail. In fact according to the CTIA penetration of wireless technology in the US currently stands at 84% of the US population. There are currently no reliable figures for Twitter adoption.

    To be fair I offer the full disclosure that I do work for the company that develops the technology. But as a citizen I also feel safer knowing that there the technology is proven and reliable. It makes a big difference. Our service is also already currently in use for many of the examples you give, including organizations dealing with the California wildfires, press releases/media communications, public health initiatives, information technology alerts, and of course emergency communications and response. We also offer BlackBerry PIN blasting, a special feature so that, as you say, if the power is out or phone lines are down, there is still that last BlackBerry PIN network over which urgent communications can be sent.

    Sincerely,

    Mike G.

  • http://www.unclepayday.com/ Helena

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