Kelley Bell and Lewis Howes at the OGS tweet-up

Kelley Bell, Chris Brogan and Cara Keithley

Tonight Miss Apps had the pleasure of zooming beyond the walls of the digital world to actually meet some cyber-friends in real life. We gathered at the Ohio Growth Summit in Columbus, for a Tweet-Up reception.

Those in attendance included the nets very own favorite son; Mr. Chris Brogan, the charming Linked-In guru Lewis Howes, our speaker for the evening Mike Figliuolo of Thought Leaders LLC, and our event facilitator; SBA regional director Michael Bowers.

Miss Apps must also mention the company of the charming @merrycricket (a Columbus Podcamp enthusiast), and one of her favorite Facebook friends Cara Keithley.

The internet is a wonderful thing, but in the end, it’s really just a tool to bring people together, and thats whats its all about, don’t you think?

Dear Miss Applesassy,

All my friends have cell phones and keep talking about something called Twitter. When we met for lunch last week I tried to ask them about it, but they all just burried their heads in their phones and started typing in response. What should I do?

Sign me,

Cold Shouldered and Clueless

Dear Cold,

Miss Apps is sympathetic to your plight. It is indeed rude to turn ones attention to electronic communications in preferace to real world interaction, (unless of course you are Paris Hilton, who uses this very technique to avoid paparazzi and the cronically uncool).

Your friends suffer from the new and viral condidtion of faceaphobia. The social security and instant gratification of texting short messages has impeded their desire to actually speak. Unfortunatly there is currently no cure, but unusually high cell phone bills or remote camping trips often curb such cravings temporarily.

If these relationships are of importance to you, the best course of action is to “do as the Romans do.” Get yourself a cell phone with a good text messaging package, go on-line, and sign up for Twitter. It’s free, it’s fun, and will allow you to broadcast short messages of 140 characters or less to hundreds, (or if you are popular), even thousands of people in less than a nano second. Those who are involved in your netwrok can sign up to recive your tweets, and you in turn can follow the twitterings of people who interest you.

The key, of course, is to make sure your messages are not boring or socially damaging. When tweeting on Twittter, one must use care to avoid looking like a twit. Miss Apps does not want to know what you ate for lunch, what time you are going to bed, or who you are doing those things with, as she is neither a compulsive eater nor a peeping Tom. She would however be most interested in any announcments you have that might be of use to others. If for instance, you just discovered a discount outlet for some new form of zero calorie chocolate, you my dear, would posess the social capital for a very sweet tweet.

Sometimes people use Twitter to gather a group of friends together after a football game, or to hook up at a business conferrence. Just type “Meet-up at The Acme Grill 6PM” and send it to all your collegues. The technique has been known to successfully launch some rather large impromtu parties, which might be just the type of twitterific social stimulation your phobic friends need. Twitter can also be used to announce a new product, inform people about breaking news, or let others know of local concerns. For instance, if you happen to live in Manhattan and know of a major traffic tie up that might cause Miss Apps to be late for her lunch, a quick tweet of warning could be most useful to all.

With warm regards,

Miss Applesassy

He has built an entire web business around the concept.  He developed a business marketing plan using Twitter as a tool to communicate with customers, built a monetized website for the niche, and contracts his services as a consultant to help businesses implement this hot technology trend effectively.

If you still don’t have a grip on the Twitter phenomenon,there is a very long and detailed business analysis of Twitter and Facebook on the PBS website Mediashift, which basically confirms how hot both of these platforms are, while also cautioning that their reign at the top of the social media heap will be fleeting, as people tend to herd from one platform to another as the next big thing appears.

But for now, Rodney Rumford is riding high on this hog by embracing it’s use, and sharing his knowlege with others.  On his site he lists 17 reasons your business should be on Twitter:

In today’s world… “Conversation is the new currency that fosters business & relationships. Twitter is the Stock Exchange of conversations where interactions get traded.”

17 Reasons Your Business Should Be on Twitter:

People are talking about your product, brand, company or service (you better be listening)

Lack of participation by your business could have negative consequences (ask Exxon or Motrin)

People want to interact with your business (seize this opportunity and the positive options that surround it)

Twitter drives website traffic & awareness

Twitter has the ability to allow your content to spread virally

You can make new connections

Twitter can be used as a channel to access people you that you might not otherwise have access to (networking)

Twitter allows for product feedback

Twitter allows you to touch and interact with customers in a personal way that they value

Brand evangelists on Twitter can be rewarded and encouraged in a variety of ways

Twitter allows you to gather insights and news from the people you follow

You can extend your brand in a new and meaningful way

Your competitors are already there (or will be soon)

You can create a network of influence to help your business in a variety of ways (sales, marketing, support, marcom)

Search Engine Visibility

Twitter allows you to have 1 to 1 conversations in a public way that can extend the reach of your business

Twitter allows you to turn brand detractors into evangelists