Spotted on Twitter a post by a journalist on how journalists can use Twitter. Now follow that if you can!

If you are wondering what Twitter is and what it can do then it is worth checking out this post that details 140+ Twitter tools. Each extends the functionality and use of Twitter.

I was talking to someone the other day about Twitter and trying to find a simple explanation of what I personally got out of using it.

Not sure why but the London coffee house phenomena of the 17^th to 19^th Centuries sprung to mind. In those days this is where people ‘hung out’ to chat, pontificate, argue and in the words of some academics debate and start movements that were to change the world. It was also the place where news and information was exchanged in the days before newspapers existed.

Lloyds of London started as a coffee house business. John Cadbury supplied teas and coffees to London and other provincial city coffee houses before deciding to expand into chocolate. The rest is history and now seems to include a gorilla and Phil Collins!

Sheridan and other famous authors sketched out their ideas for plays and books. Pamphleteers and even scientists held court to present and refine their ideas. It became a social, intellectual and informational melting pot.

Back to Twitter. What do I use it for? I get to hang out with some really interesting people. I listen to their conversations and add my own opinion. I can even start a conversation and see who joins in. I get to mingle with 'cyberpals' and also people I know in 1^st life. We exchange information, social chit-chat and I can ask questions of the Twitter community – and get quick responses. I find out about news and information sources. Things I may have missed through my other sources. Every few hours the ‘coffee crowd’ changes as the globe turns and different people wake up and take in their ‘coffee’. The constant threads of thoughts and conversation moving and changing during the day is amazing and great to be part of.

Just like a real coffee house I can drop back in at certain times of the day for another quick refreshing shot. I can quickly and simply pick up of the conversation threads as they are short and sweet. I also do not follow thousands of people as I want to listen and participate and maybe have a ‘one-on-one’ conversation with someone on a subject or other. Or arrange to meet up somewhere in 1st life. The conversation can be serious. It can can be humorous. You can get boring monologues from some people and others almost everything they say is emotional or intellectually stimulating. Sometimes both.

In other words if you haven’t realised by now…. a shot of Twitter has become part of my daily routine…  

Here is what others are using Twitter for.  

If you want to find out more about the London coffee house phenomena check out this resource. I did not know the Muslim origins of coffee until I read this.

It seems Twitter was first to break the news of the earthquake in China. It is interesting the comments a BBC journalist makes on their blog about how its speed and multiple sources plus ability to link to 'citizen journalists' video and photo uploads means it could be a serious tool for news gathering.

The media need to engage with this new technology. Even the most well served news gather organisation cannot be everywhere. Eye witness reports are a valuable source of information and have a 'first person' perspective that journalists who come to the scene later will not have. They can look at other aspects and 'backfill' details as they become available.

For many in the media Twitter could become a very valuable source of 'heads up information'. As we live in a 24/365 world that few minutes will be an early warning that gives them an edge in getting to the story before their rivals for that important 'scoop'.

Check out Business Week and one of their journalists plans to write an article using twitter (Source: Steve Rubel - on his twitter account)

Jeff Jarvis on the use of Twitter by news organisations to get 'breaking news' information using a citizen journalist type concept...

It's like having a million (or whatever the numbers of Twitterers there are) eyes and ears monitoring the world. At a time of tight budgets it is like having a mass of foreign 'stringers'. Journalists back at a remote location can make a call to physically go to the news or leverage the resources of local citizen journalists with the professional journalist acting as editor.

Twitter is being used by companies who want to find out more about their online reputation and hear about potential issues often before their customer services systems pick it up as an issue.

Great insights into how one company is using Twitter to focus managements attention and resources to fix issues. What you will notice is that although some people complain that this is only a PR ploy by the company, others, who have benefited, come to the companies defence.

So what use is Twitter to corporate marketing and PR? Here is a journalists view of it as a tool to help news gathering and distribution.

There are some great examples in the article.

Research reported in the Wall Street Journal into blog readers and the fact that reading a blog can become habit forming. Many people tend to follow a routine. When travelling to London I always stand on the same spot on the platform. I used to buy a daily newspaper. Now I do not. I take my information via online news services, blogs and recently Twitter.  

Interview with Guy Kawasaki and the authors from Forrester Research and their new book ‘Groundswell’. Groundswell is not available in the UK yet but from reviews in the US looks a great book looking at the rise and rise of social media and organisations can use it to enhance internal and external communication.

Sally Falkow on the latest research into maximising PR coverage online – don’t just distribute your release online but optimise it for search engines. There has been a lot written about the social media version of the press release. Sadly many PR agencies are strong on the people and communication skills but have less developed IT skills. This research shows how SEO added to a traditional press release can have real added value online.

David Wilson reports on the latest research from the USA on how women are reading and commenting on blogs because of their relevance and authenticity. A great quote “Several recent surveys indicate that our trust in institutions is declining. We are losing trust in the government, politicians, the media and many corporations. But as it turns out, we trust each other,” said Elisa Camahort Page, BlogHer co-founder and COO. “The blogosphere is increasingly becoming the digital ‘kitchen table’ where individuals can sit down to have an authentic conversation about all the topics that affect their daily lives - from household products to presidential candidates.”

Mike Butcher and start-up technology companies are in the US visiting IT companies and VC’s as part of WebMission08 to see how it is done over there. Follow their progress on Mike's blog and Twitter account to see who has gone.  

Shel Israel interviews the Twitter guys. After seeing it as a total waste of time I have been using Twitter for a few weeks now and found it invaluable and great fun. I saved getting caught by a rail delay by someone Tweeting that there was a problem further up the line. That alone made it worth using as I was not late for my meeting. I have also been able to find new data sources and research resports because the people I have chosen to follow are knowledgeable in areas I am interested in. Looking for somewhere to eat the other evening in London I posted a question on Twitter and got a response within 15 minutes advising me of a local place. Last week I linked up two people at the same conference using Twitter.

Although they orginally said that 'we will not respond to direct questions on Twitter' Number 10 seems to have done so. Over at Richard Sambrook's (Head of BBC News) blog he has details of an interesting response from Number 10 to a journalists question.

An interesting story from Paul Chaney on the use of Twitter and LinkedIn to help him with information.

I am only a recent Twitter user but have already found it invaluable. Like Paul I needed some help. In my case I needed extra case study and background information to help a presentation I was asked to do at short notice. I put a request out with both LinkednIn and Twitter. My first response was on Twitter within 30 minutes. That was done publicly and I am sure helped some of the further contacts I got. In total I had 6 responses on Twitter. All provided details of subject matter experts or access to published research. A couple of people replied direct to me via my Twitter account.

LinkedIn had seven responses. 2 direct as they were from people already in my network but I had not thought to contact direct. 2 were sales in nature - companies pushing their software solutions - they were OK but not quite what I wanted. The others were good. The first LinkedIn response was with me in 4 hours. The others came in over the next 4 days.

Conclusion:

• Twitter wins for speed of response
• Twitter wins in terms of non-selling and just linking to other experts
• LinkedIn wins in terms of knowing more about the source of info (click through to responders profile)

Both worked. I would use both again but allow more time for LinkedIn. Twitter is fast.

I am not sure why but I never even thoought of using Facebook! I will next time.

The company does monitor Twitter and the blogosphere. They did see the postings and did react...

This is the story...

A Twitter protest against poor customer service is written about on blogs. Where to next? And is either the company PR department or their agency monioring their online reputation so they can nip this in the bud?

Time will tell....

Really neat way PM is using social media and Web 2.0 to engage with the public.

I subscribe to Number 10's Tweets. That alerted me to the microsite calling for input to this weekends summit. On there is a YouTube video with Mr Brown asking for input.

The summit is also promoted on the Number 10 website 

I know the goal is 'joined up Government' but this looks like 'joined up social media'.