by Bill Ives
September 5, 2007 at 7:23 pm
· Filed under Enterprise 2.0
I have been hearing a lot about Twitter but (disclaimer) I have not tried it yet. The Wikipedia defines Twitter as a “a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send “updates” (text-based posts, up to 140 characters long) via SMS, instant messaging, email, to the Twitter website, or an application such as Twitterrific.” It goes on to add, “Updates are displayed on the user’s profile page and also instantly delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. The sender can restrict delivery to those in his or her circle of friends (delivery to everyone is the default).” Twitter describes itself as a “A global community of friends and strangers answering one simple question: What are you doing?” I have nothing to hide but, I have to admit, I am also not always interested in having to take the time answer this question.
So how does this web 2.0 cross over into the enterprise? HiveTalk offers 7 enterprise uses for Twitter. I will cover their suggestions and my response.
You can use it for status updates from team members. But you team members have to sign up for twitter. Unless everyone is already a Twitter user for other reasons, I am not sure this justifies the introduction of a new tool.
You can also automate the updating of your IM status. See response to the first suggestion. I have to admit I am not am IM fan but when I was within a large enterprise and used it, it was no big deal to use the IM tool to do the updates. Disclaimer – I always said I was away after getting too many demanding interruptions, especially when I was on the phone.
Twitter can provide an informal timelog since you tell everyone what you are doing, you can access this yourself. So you have a timelog as a byproduct of telling everyone what you are doing. This could be useful but it would not be enough to use the tool, it is only a useful byproduct.
You can also use Twitter to assign tasks while you are away from your laptop or PDA or mobile phone or any of the other devices that already allow you to do this. Actually, you would use your mobile phone to send the Twitter message so I guess it works like a batch phone call here – that would be useful.
Twitter can be used to notify people of wiki updates. I though that was what RSS did.
Provide updates to multiple people when pressed for time. Now here is a good use. CircleUp would also do this up and it is also free. But Twitter will likely have more fellow users.
Twitter can also do batch processing of IM. It can operate between email and IM to send updates every 30 minutes, rather than instantly. They are speaking to the wrong person but this could be useful for the IM obsessed.
Now comes the shortcoming for business use. There is no privacy at the moment. So why would I expose my business conversations for the seemingly marginal benefits outlined above? I have to admit I am not a gadget guy. On the other hand, I do get excited about tools that can provide real business benefits such as the enterprise 2.0 tools I have been writing about here for the past two months.
I have heard that people in their 20s do not listen to voice mail and are very text messaging focused so this tool seems to build on that preference. I am very open to business uses of new tools but I feel that the suggestions above need to be stronger for anyone who does not simply like to play with new tools. I like openness and I am a big Facebook fan for this reason. I do appreciate what HiveTalk as done as it helps me better understand Twitter and might start thoughts on other uses.
Can you provide more enterprise uses or expand on the ones above?
Share and Enjoy:
These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
Permalink
Just check it out, Bill… It’s fun. No, really, it isn’t addictive.
Check out Nancy White’s collection of “twitter collaboration stories” for more examples of potential value from Twitter. Some of them sound similar to the value of blogging and reaching out to one’s regular network. http://onlinefacilitation.wikispaces.com/Twitter+Collaboration+Stories
 |
SerrinSeptember 6th, 2007 at 2:08 am |
Not at all addictive. I can quit twitterring any time. I quit 20 times today already.
Jack - Thanks for pointing out the great resource!
Bill - my main question is: will we see services similar to Twitter made available for enterprises? Or will the professional use of Twitter (which is very much proven by resources such as the collection previously mentioned) remain wholly at the individual level?
I fully agree that there doesn’t seem to be a strong case for an enterprise Twitter at the time being. However, at the very least, Twitter has raised our expectations for other services and given us an idea of what is possible.
Hi Bill,
What if you had privacy (can specify who can see which messages), and you could define rules on how to receive different messages?
We’ve taken the twitter concept and looked at how it would make sense in the enterprise context in designing one of our products called RapidInformer.
I think an enterprise solution needs to work/integrate with existing solutions in the enterprise to make useful information available to users. In addition, it would typical enterprise requirements such as access control, etc.
In terms of interruption, twitter is better than IM since the messaging is asynchronous and an answer is not expected which allows you deal with them in your own schedule and not having to respond to each message.
It’s early days but I think enterprise tools like RapidInformer that learn and apply to enterprise will emerge.
Jack, Serrin, and Berkay - Thanks for your rapid responses. I had hoped to get some feedback from my post. I guess I will have to try it. I thiunk the point that Berkay added, providing an asynchronous IM, captures the potential value in a clear way. I dislike the interuptions of IM, especially when I was speaking to someone on the phone or in person. But how is this different from text messaging or is it just text messaging with more options and power (e.g., send to multiple groups, ease of use). Bill
by text messaging I assume you mean mobile phones..
one of the differences is that it supports multiple clients, IM, mobile, web page, etc. and you can dynamically shift your use. Why receive/type messages on a phone, if you’re in front of your computer.
If you’re busy, you can turn off notifications and only scan the messages from the web page, or you can only get notifications from couple of people/sources that are critical and rest take a look when/if you have time.
In short, especially an enterprise solution would provide powerful functionality to manage the message flow. Although it looks like twitter like systems increase the noise, they can actually make it better by empowering the individual to control which messages they should receive, when and how.
Berkay
Berkay
What you say makes sense. I wonder if the functionality will simply be incorporated into enterprise 2.0 platforms rathers than remaining in a standlone, single function application.
|
SerrinSeptember 6th, 2007 at 11:42 pm |
Twitter is not really a standalone application itself.
Berkay - I’m very excited to hear about your product! I’m just back from a very busy day at the Office 2.0 conference, so will take time tomorrow to do an in-depth review of your product - but I really like your approach.
Hi Bill! Really nice blog post! Thanks a bunch for sharing it with us and for showing some of the concerns on the potential business use of Twitter. I must say that I agree with Jack on his comments about trying it out. Believe me, it will change your perception about it. Many months ago I was on the same situation as you described above. I then decided to give it a try for a few weeks and as a result of that initial trial it has become now one of my essential tools to keep in touch with my different social networks.
So much so that some time ago I created the following blog post to reflect how it could well be used from a business perspective: “10 Reasons Why Twitter Will Help Improve Your Already Existing Social Networks“. As I said, you will have to try it to see the potential. Best part of it though is that there are a whole bunch of KMers and E2.0ers already on it and plenty of really good conversations going on the side. Hardly to be missed. Then perhaps you could convince me to make use of Facebook, and why you are on it, because so far I haven’t bought into it yet 
Oh, one final comment, inside IBM we are already toying with the idea of a Twitter enterprise app. and although it is still in its infancy, it is getting more and more traction by the day. It is called BlueTwit and its value is just tremendously for such a large corporation.
PS. Here is my Twitter handle, in case you would want to connect
Luis - Thanks for the links. It is great to see all these twitter defenders emerge. I will certainly look at your 10 reasons, as well as Blue Tart - following in the footsteps of Dogear. I understand the metaphor for Dogear and bookmarking - what is the reason for BlueTart?
Hi Bill! Errr, did I say BlueTart? Nope, just re-read the comment above. It is called BlueTwit, which seems like a clone from Twitter with the blue flavour Nothing about “tarts” in here :-O heh
Luis - My mistake - I read the orange text too fast. This makes sense. Thanks, Bill
Hey Bill,
This post caught my eye, and I see Jack and Luis have dropped in, I posted about business uses for Twitter a little while ago.
http://libraryclips.blogsome.com/2007/05/21/twitter-for-business-and-presence-social-network/
I like that work colleagues that follow you could receive a quick announcement on the go, right from the palm of your hand.
I like that you can SMS a shoutout of your presence in a snap and your followers are informed, it’s very low cognitive publishing…no brainer, just a mini publish and everyone is in the know, you don’t have to send it to anyone, people who follow you will receive it.
Luis did a podcast on it with Tom Mandel on Maggie Fox’s show;
http://www.smcpodcast.com/index.php?post_id=212680
NOTE: Nouncer.com looks like it’s a micro-blogging solution
The Swarm and Talk-Now look similar, but more of an indicator than publishing:
http://libraryclips.blogsome.com/2007/05/08/roundup-feedsmith-feedest-flurry-updates-iotum-talk-now-twitbin-and-tweetbar/
John I really liked your comparison of blogs and twitter which I will repeat here. “blogging is about announcing, communicating, sharing, productivity, there is lots about how this benefits the enterprise. Twitter is a micro-blogging network, so it’s a bit different has you can only share brief content, so it’s more about location, presence, status, updates…I see this as very useful especially for business travel or for people who are never at their desk, or I suppose for geographically spread teams.” This is a clear explanation for using Twitter in the enterprise.
I was going to comment that a fair number of early adopters have already written about the ways twitter or derivatives could be useful in enetrprise settings, but I see that this comment is now redundant
Jon - Thanks anyway. I have been collecting a few of these posts.
HTML-Tags:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
