twitter – big in New Zealand

A new survey shows the percentage of Kiwis using Twitter apparently outstrips the percentage of Americans doing so.

The survey of 1000 New Zealanders aged between 15 and 65 also shows 58 percent use Facebook, 18 percent use Bebo, 7 percent use MySpace and 3 percent use LinkedIn. And 88 percent said blogs, streaming video, podcasting and social platforms were here to stay.

Find out more here.

twitter – don’t believe the hype but do secure your name

Should your business embrace Twitter and start tweeting? Not always!

Yes, it can have big upsides, but to be effective, you’ll need to set clear guidelines for how and why you’re using it. If you’re a small business and don’t have the time or resources for it, give it a miss, no big deal. Find out why here.

But having said that even if you do not intend to use Twitter, you should definitely register Twitter accounts for your brands to stop other people taking your names and using them for their own purposes. This is becoming a major problem on the Twitter service because anyone can register any name on Twitter.  Registering names on Twitter is free and easy to do — so get in quick and grab your important brand names before some one else does.

how to boost your blog using Twitter and emails

Blogs are a powerful way to pull readers to your website, to educate and entertain them and lead them to action on your website. But how do you attract readers to your blog?

Compelling and useful material is, of course, essential. But other communication tools can also be useful to advertise your blog across the web.

We look at Twitter and the good old email.

Email: The Copyblogger site recommends pushing people to your blog using an email newsletter. Copyblogger says email your blog’s RSS feed as a newsletter; start a simple opt-in email newsletter; link back to your blog; and place newsletter subscription tools everywhere.

Twitter: Put up an appealing Twitter post (aka a Tweet) about each blog post you make, and link back to your blog post. Heaps of readers will see the Twitter Tweet (especially if you have built up a group of Twitter followers) and so will be able to visit your site if they are attracted to your message. If you search and monitor the Twitter traffic, you will easily find people with an interest in the information on your blog ands can tailor your Twitter messages to attract them.

twitter – how to use it in business

Continuing with our Twitter theme, here’s a great piece from “internet psychologist” Graham Jones on how to use Twitter positively as a business tool, including for:

• Staff in/out status
• News headlines
• Emergency information
• New staff appointments
• Event listings
• Price list announcements
• Stock availability
• Share price index
• Public relations

twitter – what is it good for

Yesterday, we pointed you towards an article about a company using Twitter to improve customer relations.  Here’s another good one that explains the big picture behind the Twitter service.

twitter in the real world

Twitter – the microblog service where each post can only be a max of 140 characters – is getting hugely popular, even though many people are still working out just how to benefit from it. This article shows some real world Twitter uses that are getting good results for the U.S company involved.