Going Beyond Your Pet's Tweets

Publicity, b-to-b communication and driving traffic to a Web site are more obvious media uses.

By Ava Seave 07/02/2009 -01:20 PM

Martha Stewart’s dogs and the media reporter David Carr both have Twitter accounts (@TheDailyWag and @carr2n). The only thing is, the dogs have a lot more followers, Stewart and Carr revealed at The Future of Celebrity Media conference.

So besides channeling your dog, what do media businesses use Twitter for?

* As a mini publicity engine for writers and celebrities to connect with their consumers or potential consumers and as an extension of their marketing and branding campaigns

* In the book business publishers use Twitter to interact with bloggers, journalists, bookstores and libraries and to post reviews (especially in non-traditional media.)

* For immediate customer feedback, particularly about a digital product or service

* Driving traffic to a new offering on the Web site

* Providing live coverage; this may have started as an ancillary service for news oriented sites,  but it is becoming less ancillary and more core

* Quick communication via the company intranet for groups and teams; updates could be set to private.

* Commentary during events—sometimes snarky, always fun, and potentially useful

* Ok, so this isn’t the media, but it is my favorite newest use for Twitter: In law enforcement a Tweet can be used as a digital Wanted poster. The Tweet “Can you ID this armed robbery suspect?" posted by local police lead to footage of a robbery.  

Still, these uses aren’t really central to the media business model. Julie Michalowski, an executive at Conde Nast, has a Twitter account—and has a sense of humor about her own addiction. She sent me this Jon Stewart clip: Old Man Stewart Shakes His Fist at Twitter

From the memorable commentary about the service: “Twitter offers real time access to some of our most important leaders’ and news peoples’ least important thoughts 140 characters at a time.”