Tweets for PR

To tweet or not to tweet: that is the question. Twitter is well on its way to becoming a social networking phenomenon. Unlike it's predecessors, MySpace and Facebook, Twitter offers something different: a social networking site that utilizes ONLY status updates. Now my question is, is this concept merely one-dimensional, or genius? Well after a year of questioning this seemingly ridiculous idea of a site, I've come to the conclusion that it's both. It's one-dimensional in the fact that the site's sole purpose is to follow people actions via constant status updates. Therefore, all the extra stuff like multiple photo albums and personal interests isn't necessary. Having said this, Twitter is some kind of genius because of the fact that it cuts through the clutter. People don't always want to know where you've been, but they probably do want to know where you're going. People may not always want to know what you did, but rather, what you're doing. Twitter keeps you in the know and in the present.

That's why Twitter was made for PR. I have to be honest and say that I was (and somewhat still am) very anti-Twitter due to the fact that I, myself, don't feel the need to ALWAYS KNOW WHAT PEOPLE ARE DOING. However, people should know what the companies that they invest in are doing, and those companies should want to keep the people updated on their good works. Effective PR should cut through the clutter and give the people the information they want in a timely, concise manner. Twitter does this in a way that no pre-existing social networking site has done before. And for that, I applaud it. But can information worth knowing always fit into 140 characters? Well, it can and will if it's truly worth knowing. As PR enthusiasts/professionals, the information we send should always be worth hearing about, and Twitter is a way to get that message out fast.

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/twitter/index.html