Twitter, Inc., the privately funded San Francisco, CA company that has almost become synonymous with social media has released a Guide for businesses on how to get started using Twitter that includes sections on Twitter lingo, best practices and even case studies.

This move represents a change in Twitter’s own communication strategy – in the past they’ve remained mostly silent and let members find their own ways to use the service. While some tech-savvy early adopters immediately saw potential for marketing and developing customer relations by responding to problems in real-time, others saw Twitter as a way to announce what they had for breakfast or that they were “at work until 4, then maybe gym and a movie.”

Mainstream media latched onto the latter category when statistics appeared showing that a significant portion of Twitter’s users discontinued the use of their Twitter accounts after a short time, and businesses of all sizes have wondered what sort of ROI they can expect from having employees spending time helping clients and customers using the service through a series of back and forth exchanges, or Tweets as they’re known.

Here’s a brief summary of what’s included in Twitter 101.

Getting Started

Twitter wants businesses to know that they can monitor what people are saying about them and respond in almost real-time. But it’s not just about fixing customers’ problems, they say. It’s also about having conversations with potential customers – social media marketing. They write that Twitter “shrinks the emotional distance between your company and your customers.”

My notes: The getting started section seems like it’s geared towards companies or managers who are pretty far from an early-adopter mindset – people who know Twitter only because Rick Sanchez highlights it on CNN at midday. Without some creativity, these are the people who might not find a value for the service. It seems as if Twitter is trying to guide them towards understanding the service and how it can and has been used.

Is it effective? That will remain to be seen. Take craigslist for example. I’ve lived in cities where CL was my primary source for apartments, furniture and almost everything else. I’ve also lived in cities where very few used it, thereby rendering the service almost useless. Twitter is very similar. If your customers are using Twitter, then it’s necessary to be there and interact with them. But if I was selling fly rods to retirees, I probably would not worry about my social media strategy.

Key Terms

In the next section, the folks at Twitter laboriously go over the terminology and how it has developed over time. They explain what a “Tweet” is (and why it’s called a tweet) as well as @ replies and DMs. They also explain how to retweet a message and use hashtags or attend a tweetup.

Their section on link shortening is curiously short – a fact that I’m sure many link shortening services have noticed and had staff meetings about. What’s most prevalent is the fact that Twitter fails to name drop it’s preferred link shortening service, noting only that some allow users to track the number of clicks they receive on their tweeted links.

This plays a large role in their upcoming best practices.

Best Practices

Here we find Twitter basically spoon feeding how to set up a proper user account. I write spoon feed because I think they put extra effort into explaining in clear terms what a good account looks like. For example: write a short bio, add a background image, write like a normal person, don’t spam people with your “deals and discounts” provide value and toss out a coupon code every now and then.

Is this a good thing? Absolutely, and I think that it’s smart of Twitter to spoon feed businesses on how to set up and manage their accounts. After all, they’re dealing with people who don’t necessarily understand the service and what they can do with it yet. And writing clear, understandable user manuals is the most important thing a new service can do to develop and retain users.

The most important part of the section involves their support of using “measurement tools.” They’re really just suggesting that businesses take the time to set up a system to track clicks and measure where customers go using site analytics. This is the stuff that managers will want to read about and delegate to their customer service reps when setting up their social media initiatives. Good managers will also be able to read into this section and develop ways to measure their companies ROI on social media marketing.

Twitter even mentions how some other companies have used the service to increase their own bottom lines.

Case Studies

Dell Outlet
This is a division of Dell that sells refurbished computers. Looking for new ways to announce deals, they used Twitter to offer discounts and basically get the word out about offers. As a side effect, they found that people not only wanted to hear about discounts on computers, they also wanted to talk with someone. This led to other Dell customer service initiatives that improved the previous view of Dell as a company with weak customer service.

Jet Blue
Jet Blue used Twitter’s search feature to check out what people were saying about the company and found a lot of people with travel problems. Jet Blue found that its customers wanted to be heard and have two-way conversations. In the travel industry, there is a natural distrust between travelers and airlines, who have long been thought of as the bad guy in the travel game. By actively reaching out to customers and giving them a heads up, Jet Blue has been able to distinguish itself in the game.

Teusner Wines
The wine industry is its own unique niche, just ask @garyvee. The folks at Teusner Wines found that they got the best results when then focused on interacting with consumers rather than trying to force a product on them. In a smart move, this company actively searches out people who are talking about them and reaches out to them to say “thanks for trying our product.”

Current
Current harnessed the Twitter API to give people real time updates on the 2008 election, which garnered it far more publicity than it would have gotten just by rebroadcasting what people had already seen on TV. This goes to show that normal people are interested in what other normal people have to say. Citizen journalism at it’s best/worst regardless.

And more! You can find all the case studies including the ones not mentioned in this article here.

But the general premise is that Twitter helps businesses connect with people. If you read Twitter 101, you’ll find that the businesses that found value from Twitter actively went out of their way to connect with customers.

Other Resources

Twitter ends its Guide with some books and blog posts from notables such as mashable.com, Chris Brogan and zappos.

What’s Missing?

It’s interesting that Twitter chose to leave it open-ended at, well, the end. There is no definitive call to action, no idea forced on the reader, no agenda plugged or conclusion. Twitter, it seems, has chosen to let businesses read their Guide and then choose for themselves if they want to use the service.

Also absent is a strong emphasis on the Twitter API, which is an important aspect of the service. But this is understandable, the API is still not very well documented and hard to understand. It could easily deserve a Guide of its own one day. Mentioning it at this point would just confuse people.

Wrapping Up

Twitter finally opened its mouth and told us a little bit about itself and how to use it, which is a new direction for the mostly quiet company. Will more companies use Twitter because of the guide? Probably. But its real value comes from the subtle urges it gives users to develop tracking tools or “measurement systems” to gather what the real ROI of the service is for companies.

Is it a game changer? No, but I do think it’s a precursor to a big movement that the company will one day make towards monetizing the service.

What do you think?

It’s a hustle kind of day, been up earlier than everyone else to work harder than everyone else – Four O’Clock Project style. In keeping with that tradition, I’m going to share with my readers my opinion on the absolute worst social media element that is prevalent on most sub-par blogs – the Twitter Widget.

Your twitter widget sucks because you don’t use it properly. How do I know that you don’t use it properly? Here are 3 characteristics of the suck-ish use of a twitter feed :

1) Display the last 5 Tweets

First off, if you’re using a twitter widget to display your last 5 tweets, deactivate it, uninstall it and throw it across the room. It will do your blog more good sitting in a corner of your living room behind the yoga ball than taking up space in your sidebar.

I’ve said it before, people don’t read your sidebar text unless it stands out. Having a block of twitter text does the opposite. In fact, it probably fills up valuable space above the fold on your site that would be best served by something else.

2) Use the words “Twitter” or the phrase “Follow Me”

Forget the fact that the media is talking about Twitter or that it’s supposedly mainstream. What people should be paying attention to is the perception of Twitter from someone who doesn’t know anything about Twitter. You as the blog writer need to empathize with the person who comes to your blog knowing nothing about social media. Does a person who knows nothing about social media want to “tweet” or “follow you?” No. They do not. They just want to read what you have to say. In my humble study of human-computer patterns, I’ve found that people who come to a website don’t click on things they don’t understand.

If your reader audience are geeks, feel free to use “Follow me.” But if not, consider changing your entry phrase to get more people checking out your account.

3) The Twitter Bird

My beef with the bird is simple, it establishes Twitter as a brand instead of your tweets. Again, if I am person who knows nothing about social media, this little blue bird is meaningless to me. But, hmm, what image could possibly represent my own voice?

How about a talk bubble? How about a picture of you or your brand talking? Swap the picture of the blue bird with one of you so that people intuitively connect your “tweets” with you actually talking and I bet you’ll see an increase of people clicking over to your Twitter account.

Quick Recap:

To make a great twitter widget make these changes…

Be conservative with the number of tweets you display.  Don’t waste space above the fold with your twitter feed if it’s not necessary.

Don’t use words that your audience does not understand.  You shouldn’t have to convince a non-believer to “follow you.”

Don’t brand Twitter, brand yourself.  Some people say it’s arrogant to have a big picture of yourself, I say it’s neither good or bad but instead a balance between a personal brand and a business brand and only the boss can make that call.

Future Directions:

My Twitter Widget sucks.  I think it’s cooler than a lot of other ways people display their feeds, but still lacking in a lot of aspects.  I know exactly what it needs to make it better, but I have held off doing much with it because I think that when a blogger reaches a certain number of followers it makes sense to downplay Twitter.  Instead of a twitter balloon or feed, just a link will do.   After all, it seems kind of silly to worry about Twitter integration when a blogger already has thousands of followers.

I hope you have either loved this article or hated it.  Either way I would love to hear about it and what how you’ve integrated Twitter into your site.