Twitter Launches a Twitter 101 Guide for Business

July 24th, 2009 Posted by Missie at 3:51 pm

Just out of the box, twitter has released Twitter 101 for Business, a guide for getting started with using the Twitter service. It covers everything from the basics of twitter, learning the lingo, best practices and other valuable resources for businesses.

Here, twitter describes the value of its twitter 101 for businesses;

Every day, millions of people use Twitter to create, discover and share ideas with others. Now, people are turning to Twitter as an effective way to reach out to businesses, too. From local stores to big brands, and from brick-and-mortar to internet-based or service sector, people are finding great value in the connections they make with businesses on Twitter.

The site contains six sections. They are: “What is Twitter”, “Getting started”, “Learn the lingo”, “Best practices”, “Case studies” and “Other resources”.

One thing we noticed is that the site contains links to a new subdomain: business.twitter.com (it looks like a lot of these links have been changed back to twitter.com, but business.twitter.com is there, and it works).

Another thing that immediately jumps out about Twitter 101 are the case studies. They come from the likes of Dell, JetBlue, Teusner Wines, Current, Tasti D Lite, CoffeeGroundz, Etsy, NAKEDPizza, America Apparel and Pepsi.

The co founder of twitter Biz Stone said on his blog;

We coordinated with business students and writers to surface some interesting findings, best practices, steps for getting started, and case studies. The results demonstrate how customers are getting value out of Twitter and suggest techniques businesses can employ to enhance that value. While this work was envisioned for businesses, it’s also useful for anyone using Twitter so have a look if you like.

A little snapshot from twitter’s 101 for business pages;

Here’s Twitter’s own definition of “tweet”:

Users refer to an individual message as a tweet, as in, “Check out this tweet about our CEO dancing on the sidelines of the Phoenix Suns game.” People sometimes use it as a verb, too, as in, “I tweeted about the stimulus package this morning.” If “tweet” is hard for you to use with a straight face in a business context, try “twittering” as a verb instead. Alternatives include “post,” “message” and “update.”

Here’s how Twitter explains its own name:

Twittering is the sound birds make when they communicate with each other—an apt description of the conversations here. As it turns out, because Twitter provides people with real-time public information, it also helps groups of people mimic the effortless way a flock of birds move in unison. On these pages, we’ll show you a few examples of that powerful Twitter characteristic.

Here’s what Twitter says it can do for businesses:

Twitter is a communications platform that helps businesses and their customers do a number of useful things. As a business, you can use it to quickly share information with people interested in your company, gather real-time market intelligence and feedback, and build relationships with customers, partners and other people who care about your company. As an individual user, you can use Twitter to tell a company (or anyone else) that you’ve had a great–or disappointing–experience with their business, offer product ideas, and learn about great offers

We understand it’s the first step of Twitter’s business plan and a interesting move on twitter’s behalf.  I wonder if they will branch out and cover more 101 for every twitter audience, not just businesses. But just like twitter is doing, we have been helping twitter users understand how to use it and one step forward in how to make the most of your time on twitter.

See some of our twitter for business posts and see how they compare -How twitter can help at work, Twitter’s verified accounts and badges and Tips for businesses on twitter.

Let us know your thoughts and comments below on twitter’s 101 guide for businesses.