Progressive Research (Part 2) Twitter
Part of my project research, I’ll be looking through the available social media platforms out there that will benefit the organisation that my group is working on. Other than the infamous Facebook site, I find Twitter to be a potential (or already is) a powerful tool to get information across audiences. I’m a Twitter user myself and this social media application would be a great way to disseminate thoughts or ideas.
Why use Twitter? (Summary)
Information to be conveyed is kept bite-sized (max. 140 characters/update). It “forces” users to keep their message simple and easily understood, than reading lengthy messages which are usually ignored. I prefer reading short and to-the-point updates to know what’s going on. The idea of “instant” update and response is great. The ability to disseminate latest news, updates and events – instantly. Solve customer service issues. Followers can post questions on Twitter and both the organisation and even other users can answer to each other enquiries. The organisation can also gather valuable feedback from its customers. Certain updates can be re-tweeted (or forwarded) by other users so the updates on Twitter have a viral effect.
The points below are detailed advantages of using Twitter and I can relate it to my project. I’ve underlined some keywords.
(Online research | Source: http://www.doshdosh.com/ways-you-can-use-twitter/ )
Get Feedback. Need an alternative perspective on how a website looks or the right course of action to take? Blast out a message asking for advice and you’ll receive replies from other users. This collective intelligence can be used as fodder for articles or projects.
Direct traffic. Twitter can be used to get traffic to your websites or the sites of friends. If you ask your friends to tweet about it, the message will spread faster and further as other active users pick it up. There is a viral nature to all types of news, even on a site like Twitter.
Read News. Twitter users often link to useful sites or articles and can be a source of scoops and alternative news. You can also subscribe to Twitter feeds for specific websites/conferences, which allows you to receive and view content quickly. This is very useful for active social news participants.
Network for benefits. Twitter can be used as a socializing platform for you to interact with other like-minded people. It can be used to establish consistent and deeper relationships for future benefits such as testimonials or peer recommendations.
Notify Your Customers. Set up a Twitter feed for the specific purpose of notifying customers when new products come in. Customers can subscribe via mobile or RSS for instant notification. Twitter can also be used to provide mini-updates for one-on-one clients.
Event Updates. Businesses / Non-profit organisations can use Twitter as a means to inform event participants and latest event happenings/changes. This is a hassle-free way of disseminating information, especially when you don’t have the means to set up a direct mobile link between you and the audience.
So Twitter is something worth implementing to ADA’s website. Volunteers can easily be updated with anything from quotes to blog posts to upcoming events. Volunteers can in turn retweet updates to their friends, so theres a potential way to get a message across to a wider audience, and in the long run, get new volunteers or even support from other organisations OR government/media agencies.
