Subscribe:

Friday 30 August 2013

How Will The Update To Twitter Conversations Affect Businesses?



On Wednesday, Twitter made changes to how conversations are displayed on its apps and website. Tweets which are part of a conversation now show up in chronological order. Up to three tweets can be displayed, with a blue line connecting each tweet through the profile picture. Users can tap the tweet to see all the replies it has received. Twitter announced the update on its blog:

Today we're updating out iPhone and Android apps, as well as Twitter.com, to make it easier to discover and follow conversations in your home timeline. From buzz about the VMAs to debates around upcoming football games, people come to Twitter to take part in these real-time, global, public conversations.
In addition to this update, Twitter has made it easier for users to share conversations off the site. Users can now send tweets via email, as well as via direct message on Android devices. Also, Android users can now report individual tweets for spam.

The update, which is slowly rolling out to all users, has already received some flack, mostly from Twitter users who don't like the new look. Business Insider has gone as far to say that “some people are freaking out” about the new update, despite how small a change it is.

So, despite the immediate backlash, how can the changes help your company? Firstly, it will be a lot easier for you to find and engage with relevant conversations on Twitter. Instead of having to expand tweets to see replies, you’ll be able to read each tweet in chronological order. Finding conversations which are relevant to your business and getting involved is a great way to get new followers and promote your brand.

Secondly, if you reply to any tweets, your replies will be immediately visible beneath them. If you respond to a popular tweet, one that has been retweeted often but maybe doesn’t have that many responses, commenting with a funny or intuitive comment can gain you a lot of publicity.

Thirdly, companies can take advantage of the new email sharing options. If one of your tweets goes viral, or you have a really great conversation on Twitter, you can share it with your customers via email. You can also share important tweets with your colleagues so that you have a record of them that’s easy to recover.

Finally, companies need to be aware of the new reporting options available to Android users. Spamming on Twitter is always a bad idea, so if your company tweets appear to be spam, then you need to change your strategy. It’s so easy to report spam on the service now that you might get your account blocked at any point.

What do you think of the new Twitter conversations update?

0 comments:

Post a Comment