Over the last few years, micro-blogging has spread to the masses and everyone from Barack Obama to the New York Times to Amazon has joined in the fun. Essentially (and according to my dear friend, Wikipedia),

Micro-blogging is a form of blogging that allows users to write brief text updates (usually less than 200 characters) and publish them, either to be viewed by anyone or by a restricted group which can be chosen by the user. These messages can be submitted by a variety of means, including text messaging, instant messaging, email, MP3 or the web.

Some of the most popular independent micro-blogging services are Twitter, Jaiku, Tumblr, and Pownce. But even existing platforms like Facebook and MySpace have begun building in various types of micro-blogging functionality.

So, What’s So Special About Micro-blogging?

To put it simply, there are two things that separate micro-blogging from traditional blogging. The first is the compact length of the post and the level of personalization that generally accompanies it. The second is the social element.

In most micro-blogging applications, posts are generally limited to less than 200 characters and guidelines often suggest posting about what you are actively doing. With beginners you’ll often see posts like: “I’m eating a burger”, “Going for a walk…”, or “Time to get back to work”. This type of posting is alright at first, but quickly leads to the question: ‘Who really cares what I’m doing right now?’ From this, comes the need to post something valuable and worth-while - something others can actually use or find interesting. As Dr. Mani suggests, the emphasis has to change from ‘me’ to ‘you.’ After coming to this realization, micro-bloggers have turned to posting links, planning meetups, covering events, and posting generally, more clever quips.

These short posts ensure that there is no room for fluff. They are personal, honest, and to the point, which leads us to the second important aspect of micro-blogging: the social community. The communal aspect of micro-blogging in combination with the personal nature of micro-posts is what makes this technology so potentially valuable for businesses. Aaron Brazell suggests that the power of micro-blogging is in authenticity and transparency. With the addition of a communal element, organizations have the opportunity to open up to their target markets - providing insight and creating conversations with their customers, ultimately building trust in the organization.

How Can Your Business Get Involved?

As more and more people flock to these strangely addictive platforms, businesses are looking for ways in which they can participate, as well. Clearly, the most obvious opportunity for micro-blogging in business is public relations, but I’ll be offering up a few other applications as well.

1. Public Relations

The list of PR applications in micro-blogging is growing every day as more and more organizations are looking for creative ways to engage their target markets. The easiest way to utilize micro-blogging for public relations is to simply sign up and start having conversations. With search applications like Terraminds, finding users with interest in your product or market is a breeze. Add these people to your network and reply to their posts when appropriate.

Micro-blogging is also a great way to respond to negative press and defend your brand. Take advantage of the personalized nature of micro-blogs to present a genuine defense and reinforce your organizations sincerity.

Another way you might consider connecting with your customers is by setting up a micro-blog for customer support. Use it to announce service interruptions, encourage followers to report bugs, and post status updates.

2. Promotions

Another micro-blogging application that many e-commerce businesses have already taken up is promotional offerings. Amazon, Dell and Woot are just a few organizations already in the mix. These companies use micro-blogs to post special deals for their followers and inform them of time-sensitive sales.

3. Product Announcements

Similarly, you could use micro-blogging to provide your followers with product announcements, updates, and status reports. WordPress uses Twitter to announce updates of their software, while Twitterific includes outage reports, tips, and tricks in addition to product announcements.

4. Networking

For the same reasons that micro-blogging is perfect for public relations, it is also a perfect networking tool. As mentioned above, services like Terraminds allow you to find other users and organizations with the same interests. This is a great way to find potential employees, contractors, and of course, prospective clients and customers.

5. Internal Affairs

Why not use micro-blogging internally? Not only can you strengthen employee-management relationships, but micro-blogging can be used for organizational purposes as well. Try setting up a micro-blog for project members to arrange meetings, post status updates, or inform other members about project specifics or ToDo items.

Planning a large event? Use micro-blogging to coordinate event workers and/or inform visitors of activities. Many large conferences, like SxSW, have begun using micro-blogs as a way to provide live coverage to both visitors and online followers.

You could also utilize micro-blogging for time management purposes. Encourage employees to record their progress both to keep others up to date and to ensure productivity.

A Few More Considerations

A recent discussion on the involvement of organizations in micro-blogging brought up an interesting point - that is, should businesses post as an organization or should they bring it down to a more personal level through individual, employee postings. In my opinion, the answer here will really depend on what you are trying to accomplish through micro-blogging. If you’re posting promotions or product announcements, it might be better to post as an organization and there-by maintain a strong, central identity. However if you’re using micro-blogs as a PR or networking tool, it might be a better idea to use individualized postings with the ability to reach your followers on a more personal level. Or perhaps the answer is a combination of individual and company posts to both maintain relationships on a personal level and re-enforce your overall identity as an organization.

Another point to consider is the separation of content in your micro-blog. If you plan on covering a range of topics like customer service AND networking AND event coverage, it might be a good idea to split these areas up into separate micro-blogs thereby reducing the amount of uninteresting content your followers receive. That way if a follower only cares about customer service, they aren’t bogged down by live event coverage - an overwhelming amount of content that might cause the follower to drop your micro-blog relationship altogether. Having many micro-blogs can quickly turn into a daunting task though, which is why you might consider hiring someone to focus solely on micro-blogging and maintaining your relationships.

In closing, as micro-blogs evolve, businesses will continue to find engaging and creative ways to take advantage of the technologies available. But like blogs, one aspect that won’t change is the link between regular updates and success. So keep it short, keep it simple, and keep it going!

I’m sure there are plenty other uses for micro-blogging in the business world, has anyone seen any other applications in place? Leave a comment, we’d love to hear from you!