The Most Powerful Five-Year-Old in The World!
On March 21st 2006 the social media platform which many of us constantly use throughout the day was born. One of the founders Jack Dorsey sent two short yet sweet messages. 1) @JackDorsey – just setting up my twttr 2) @JackDorsey – inviting co-workers.
In much the same way as Facebook had a few years before, Twitter went off like the proverbial storm in a tea-cup. On a recent count it had over 190million tweeters, who send roughly 1 billion 140 character gems per day.
Included in those statistics are many members of the Creare Team, and famous celebrities – such as Lady Gaga (8,958,173 followers), Stephen Fry (2,374,178 followers) and US President Barack Obama (7,121,013 followers) – I come a long way off all of these, as I’ve not managed to reach triple figures yet! 
The lighter-side of Twitter:
We all love to read the funny, strange and sometimes scary ramblings of those who are in the limelight – just so we can see that they’re normal. So before we look at the more serious side of this powerful five-year-old I’ve included a few tweets which have made us a Creare share a wry smile or have shown us (and the world) how powerful Twitter actually is:
Funny:
@davidvitty – Do penguins ever get cold feet? It’s not important really. I was just wondering.
@billmaher – Can we go back to using Facebook for what it was originally for – looking up exes to see how fat they got?
Power:
@Astro_TJ – Hello Twitterverse! We r now LIVE tweeting from the International Space Station – the 1st live tweet from space! More soon, send your ?s
@HarveyLevinTMZ (Celebrity Gossip Website) – We have just got word that Michael Jackson has died… – Breaking news hit Twitter, before it had been officially confirmed the King of Pop was dead!
Feud:
A feud erupted between two R&B Divas recently after Ciara (who?) commented on live television that Rihanna (what’s her name?) wasn’t too pleasant when they met. At the height of the feud, followers will have read the following:
@rihanna – My bad ci, did I 4get to tip u? #howrudeofme
@ciara – Trust me Rhianna u dont want to see me on or off the stage
@rihanna – Good luck with bookin that stage you speak of
The Effect of Twitter on…..:
Twitter is no longer seen as just a platform where you can share what you had for breakfast or your thoughts whilst you’re sat in traffic on the motorway. It’s now an important tool and during the recent tsunami and earthquakes which hit Japan it acted as a lifeline for many.
….Charity:
#ComicRelief/#r1moremoyles – As recently as last week, Twitter proved to be a powerful tool as Radio 1 DJ’s Chris Moyles and Dave Vitty took to the airwaves for their marathon 52hour show, in a bid to raise money for Comic Relief. For anyone who missed it, they managed to raise a staggering £2.6million and you can’t help but believe that Twitter played a role in this. During the time that they were on air, #r1moremoyles managed to be in the top 5 trends worldwide, whilst also hitting the top-spot here in the UK.
#WardrobeClearout – At the time of writing, the #WardrobeClearout in conjunction with @marksandspencer and @oxfam is building pace on Twitter. This is your opportunity for you to clear your wardrobe of any unwanted clothes; take them along to your local M&S store and they’ll provide you with a £5 voucher whilst donating your unwanted clothes to Oxfam. (Unfortunately this is only available on March 24th, but follow both @marksandspencer and @Oxfam for future events!)
….Businesses:
Studies carried out both here in the UK and across the Atlantic have tried to diminish the power Twitter has. For example just over a year ago, dotCommerce carried out a study which suggested that only 26% of the 100 businesses that took part have a Twitter account (23% of whom had a link from their website to their Twitter feed) in which to promote their brand, products or services (24% had a Facebook account!).
Many world-renowned businesses have used Twitter and the power it possesses to communicate with customers or to find out customers’ views and opinions. One way that many companies are choosing to do this is by using a scanning tool which picks up when they’re mentioned within a tweet – the company is then able to respond as appropriate. Examples of some companies who use such a method include:
@Dell/@Delloutlet – As you’d expect from a multi-million pound computing company, Dell and Delloutlet have certainly embraced the power of Twitter with a reported 20+ accounts, and these have certainly benefited the company. Way back in 2009 it was reported that they’d made $6.5million in revenue by having a presence on Twitter – highly impressive when you consider the limit of 140 characteristics!
Along with making a healthy profit with the help of Twitter, @Delloutlet also promote latest offers via their twitter feed. Free Advertising + Huge Target Audience = win win for @Delloutlet and customers!
@ThomasCookUK – Along with providing information surrounding the temperatures of their holiday destinations and offers, they also tweet with customers regarding any issues they may be having – whether this is finding holidays or with a booking!
@asda – All of us need to food shop, unfortunately on occasion this experience can present problems. Fortunately for those that do our regular week’s shopping at Asda and use Twitter, if you experience any issues you can tweet them and they’ll look into it. They also provide information of money saving tips and tweet special offers; after all every penny counts!
@YOURBUSINESS – Here at Creare we understand the importance of social media; which is why we offer a social media package which takes advantage of the power this five-year-old has. For the small one-off fee of £50 our dedicated team will create a Twitter account for your business, complete with a logo and biography. To get your customers to join you on Twitter and help spread the news, we’ll add a short blog on your RSS feed, aggregate your news feed and embed the Twitter logo on your website.
For a monthly retainer we’ll also carry out a specific amount of work on your Twitter account for you, to give you maximum exposure. The work carried out depends on your retainer fee, if you’d like more information; don’t hesitate to get in touch!
