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I can't remember the amount of times I've preached, well maybe not preached, but excelled the virtues of Twitter for us in the PR business to my friends down the pub, or over dinner, generally to muted non-plussed responses!
But, Twitter is so much more than a promotional tool - it’s a super efficient way to get and share masses of information quickly and most importantly in real time 24/7. So anybody who wants to keep up to date with what's going on in the world, lets say about their beloved football club and the rumours flying around about who they'll buy in the January transfer window... can get involved and follow the said club, along with any decent footie journalists, and you’ll know so much more than your friends.
For us at CBC, we tend to use it for the above reason (and for the football too!), and to liaise with journalists, pitch ideas and see what they are writing about, as well as track stories for our clients and spread news to them. So it really is a vital tool.
Now moving back to the 'masses of information quickly in real time 24/7' benefit of Twitter... these facets surely are the main advantages of it to all and anyone who's connected to the web in the 'always online' world that we live in today. Surely everyone can benefit from this kind of help in their everyday lives to make things just that little bit easier? Take the latest, and very timely (as the UK is threatened with snow, with Scotland and the North East bearing the brunt overnight) Twitter fueled application - UK Snow Map The website essentially tracks the spread of snowfall across the UK using a key code and Google maps. But, instead of relying on MET Office data and weather stations, the information is supplied by Twitter users across the UK, who simply look out of the window and send a Tweet using the snow rating key code, supplying their postcode alongside the #uksnow hash tag (the ‘#’ in front of the word denotes a specific topic or trend that be traced easily). The site applies all this real time data to the map, and instantly you can learn exactly where it’s snowing, how heavy it is and where it’s heading next! Genius – I just hope the council gritters are taking note too ;-)