It is not only in the communication industry but in practically all areas that Twitter is a dominating topic right now. Even some dyed-in-the-wool Internet users did not expect the 140-character-long messages to be such a resounding success (even though the concept is quite similar to the SMS, the triumph of which would not be stopped either). But is the corporate use of Twitter sensible and reasonable and which are the opportunities and risks? These questions have been treated by the German daily newspaper Handelsblatt in a recent interview with book author Nicole Simon. Bottom line: the article is passionately taking sides for using Twitter as a communication tool.

The general fears and worries of managing directors cannot be denied, though: Twitter is time-consuming. If a company wants to give Twitter an honest try, it has to be aware that resources – especially time and effort – will have to be spent to be successful. Simon’s first counter-argument may sound a little too simple to be convincing. She says that all those who worry that they waste time with Twitter could give up Internet right away, too. But the next argument is quite reasonable: entrepreneurs should ask themselves which sites their customers and the media frequently visit. After all these are the two main target groups each company wants to reach with its news to sell its products or services. Very well, so Twitter is ‘just’ another communication channel. But how is it used professionally?

This is a question which generally worries companies most. What are the risks that confidential internal or even image-damaging information is distributed online by employees’ who are just a little too conversational or unmindful? And in deed, Simon confirms that there are such dangers. But generally this is not necessarily the case when employees use social media channels for corporate purposes but rather in their leisure time. Many of them are involved in social networks such as Facebook, Xing, or wer-kennt-wen.de privately anyway. Consequently, photos of the latest boisterous company party in times of consolidation will eventually make it into public. Simon confirms that when a topic is hotly discussed among the Twitter community, then apparently harmless news can have undesired side effects when they are spread without tact or empathy.

The above mentioned facts show that is imperative to train employees when it comes to using social media tools. This can be done by means of social media guidelines or a gradual learning process while getting to know a certain tool which is used in the company. Censorship or trying to control the employees’ posts, tweets or actions is not a solution, however. For more information on this topic, check out our whitepaper. At the same time a laissez-faire attitude is not advisable either. The bottom line should be to sit down together to learn how to use social media tools professionally instead of just releasing a tweet, confirms Twitter expert Simon. Together with its employees, a company should try to find a language and diction as well as topics which are suitable and adequate for the corporate communication in Web 2.0.

Nicole Simon clearly rejects Twitter as a universal cure for all industries. In her opinion, especially companies with lots of customer contact are well advised to have a go at this tool. As soon as the decision in favour of viral twittering has been made, tweets should be published with certain regularity. ‘One a day’ is Simon’s advice though future followers or passionate Twitterers may disagree. But according to her, every company which has an employee for public relations will sure find enough input to tweet about and get followers interested in the company. Our advice for all those who do not have a PR professional in their team yet: climb on the bandwagon or have http://twitter.com/kjplus inspire you how to do it…

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