Andrew Douglas B2B journalist, turned PR man, specializing in new media.

Twitter “Contributors” could bridge personality gap for business

I've been cooling on Twitter recently. Maybe it's because the monstrous amount of work I've been trying to beat back with a stick has kept me pretty focused on being billable.

Nonetheless, I still see the marketing value of Twitter. It helps clients engage with customers and it provides a channel in which to promote content.

But many businesses can't get their minds wrapped around how to fit Twitter into a corporate straight-jacket for three reasons:

1. Who's got enough time in their day to take on the task of tweeting enough to maintain credibility and to develop a following?
2. Does the corporation want individual employees developing a following of their own on Twitter -- only to take those eyeballs with them should they leave?
3. How can a Twitter experiment succeed without letting the person tweeting develop some personality? [see my previous post: B2B’s big hurdle: Developing a personality in social media]  It's tough to get someone to follow some lame Twitter feed where all they do is post links to dry-as-toast news releases.

Twitter might have come up with an answer. Twitter Contributors will flag which individual contributes a tweet to a corporate Twitter feed. It looks like it will be offered in a premium business package but I think it will be worth the investment.

This seems like an elegant way to answer some of the concerns businesses have about handing off the Twitter reins to staff. They could have a number of employees -- say a bunch of sales reps from a specific region -- contributing to one Twitter feed.

Say the feed is www.twitter.com/AcmeSouthwest. Each tweet from Bill the sales rep from the southwest region will have his name attached. Same with another rep from the region, Mary.

Followers would get the benefit of hearing a variety of voices and perspectives. Employees who are motivated to tweet could carry more of the Twitter load -- and see more of the upside. And employees would be able to develop some personality in a more controlled environment.

Stay tuned. Twitter Contributors hasn't been rolled out yet but it's coming soon.