Gordon's Republic

Gordon Macmillan

It's a Twitter special in Time this week telling us how the microblogging service will change the "way we live and showing us the future of innovation". Its front page "tweet" asks you to buy a copy as well, but helpfully like Twitter is available for free on the web.

There are several pieces worth checking (brevity not being an issue), but the point of the main article really comes down to this: "the most fascinating thing about Twitter is not what it's doing to us. It's what we're doing to it".

Here it points to how in Twitter's short life it has given us some great little innovations: there's the much abused #hashtag; the power of Twitter search; the third-party applications (there are now 11,000); and maybe one of the best the @reply, which came from within the Twitter community. Who did the first @reply? Is there a Twitter hall of fame? There should be. It would be a micro one, of course. All of these changes have helped turn Twitter into the real time conversation that it is.

Also online at Time this week are the top 10 ways Twitter will change American business.

1. The growth of Hyperlocal marketing – Twitter has the power to drive business for anyone from your local bakery (we've seen that) to Starbucks or Gap. It doesn't matter who you are. "The time may come when multinational oil companies with local gas stations can tweet people who want to save money on gas when the price at the pump drops a few cents…the hyper-local marketing aspects of Twitter have the potential to move billions of dollars of business to and from retailers based on targeted marketing.

2. Making Old-World Advertising Work – Twitter can ride to the rescue of old advertising. Well if not the rescue it can help out, by connecting users to the ads and incentivising them.

"Marketers using outdoor ads will have to give Twitter users an incentive to report that they have seen a billboard. A Twitter user who sees an ad for a Toyota Corolla could be encouraged to send a tweet to the local dealer in exchange for a pint of oil or a T shirt. The tweeter would obviously have to go to the showroom to get that promotional item.

3. Turning Wall Street on Its Head – It argues that the power of Twitter will replace the old boards and forums for discussing stocks and shares. Twitter it says will become the preferred method for discussing individual public companies.

"The size of the Twitter audience makes it possible for groups interested in one stock to post opinions on that company, trades, research, rumours and data directly from the company in real time.

4. Making Blogs Count – Bloggers have already become powerful on Twitter and it works for the big time players like Perez Hilton and TechCrunch to smaller bloggers and individuals because Twitter is so good at sharing content.

5. New Ways to Get Consumer Data - Collecting market research data is expensive and Twitter can play a role in cutting that cost and opening up new ways to find out what people think.

"Market research, product development and research techniques like focus groups can take months to organize and execute. Twitter is a nearly ideal platform for tapping opinions about customer views of products."

6. Helping TV and Print – We've already seen old media brands become Twitter power players. CNN has led the way here and it has reaped rewards for this, giving it an advantage over rivals like MSNBC or the BBC.

7. Expanding the Power of Micropayments - The use of Twitter for micropayments is already happening, but could become significant.

"One model that is being tested allows consumers to put cash into a Twitpay account through a payment service like PayPal and then send a tweet to another Twitpay member, structured like "@josh twitpay $10 for Burger King."

8. Changing Telecommunications – True that Twitter may not replace the landline, or the mobile phone, but it offers another free nonmetered communications opportunity for businesses and consumers.

9. A New Way for the Government to Reach You – Twitter is already being used on a small scale by government departments this will grow as Twitter becomes increasingly seen as a good way to communicate with the public. It says Twitter could also be mandated to "participate in some programs to distribute emergency notices to citizens quickly".

10. Charity/politics begins online – Charity and Twitter and other campaigning causes to go well together. Charities and political parties have been fast to take advantage and leverage the power of the Twitterverse.

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