In class we briefly touched upon Twitter. To refresh your memory, Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that utilizes instant messaging, SMS, or a web interface to send updates to the Twitter website. We mainly focused on its popularity amongst the younger generation, however the usage of Twitter extends beyond inane updates such as, "Marsha just saw her crush at the mall." In fact U.S. presidential candidates John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Ron Paul are known to be Twitter users.
With the growing influence of word of mouth facilitated by emerging media, marketing and brand managers must be aware of what is being said on the internet about their organizations. Twitter search tools such as Tweetscan and Summize offer ways to monitor what people on Twitter are saying about your specific brand, product, or service. Tweetscan offers basic search functionality with a plain presentation. Summize, an opinion search engine, offers special features such as: language filtering, keyword search filters, and a "reply" link with every message in the search results. Most importantly, Tweetscan also has the capability to look at tweets (aka updates) to a specific user, referencing a specific user, containing a specific tag, or even with a positive or negative attitude (based on the analysis of smiley faces!).
While we may not be able to relate to the "Twitter Generation" and find some of their tweets silly, word of mouth is becoming increasingly important. In addition, the "Twitter Generation" is growing up quickly into full-fledged money welding consumers. Currently, using Twitter search tools may not make or break your organization's current brand, but usage of the tools is free and
the traditional methods of brand management are outdated and in dire need of supplementation if we are to keep up with the fast paced world of Web 2.0.
Sources: Mashable, Wikipedia
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