I find I am getting a little bogged down as my friend lists bloats. I have heard of companies (boots n all) that were very active in the twitter community, and now have completely withdrawn. I think if you use it for specific uses like conference updates, and staying in touch with a group of colleges it is great, but how much time can we dedicate to following little tid-bits of info all day long? As you suggest, time will tell.

Phil

There’s no doubt that the current Twitter craze presents a great opportunity to build up a mass ‘following’ online in a very short amount of time.

If you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em, that’s what I say. Take advantage of the fad while it lasts and build up your ‘followers’ while you can!!

I think you are right, it is both addictive and distracting! I think I need to focus a strategy on how to use it best. I use it so far to announce when I post a new blog, to respond directly to others finds, and to share something interesting that I find on the net. I have been trimming down the number of people I follow, there is only so much “I think ice cream is good” you can take before you start to wonder if there is any value in Twitter.

Stephen,
Great post. You raise a very valid point about Twitter fitting into the marketing mix. As I stated above, I think it can be used to announce blog posts of relevance, which could be used as Promotion. I do feel that twitter’s greatest strength is conversation. If you come to ITB, I will show you the power of interactive conference tweeting, I think you will like it!

I cut out a “pair for” section of the blog post, but I do think that there are enough ‘Tweetoholics’ that would be willing to pay for text updates, it only makes sense to offer it as an option. The ‘Freemium’ business model can make sense when you have enough of a user base to make it scale. We will have to see.

Interesting news though about Twitter reducing some of its offerings though – is there scope for ‘paid for’ twitter services?

look forward to hanging out with you in the twittersphere!
http://twitter.com/elliottng