With constant updates and 140-character messages, Twitter is the environment to create the authentic voice of an organization.
Twitter has received a lot of popularity lately, with “tweets” from mega-corporations such as Comcast, Zappos, and Jetblue. Even President Barack Obama twitters.
Twitter is a great way to reach a mobile audience. Followers might receive tweets on their cell phones and comment back in seconds. No matter where the audience is, followers can find out what’s going on at the company.
With only 140 characters to update followers on corporate news, links or events, many corporate twitterers have adopted an authentic, short-hand tone of voice.
Southwest, for example, tweets about weather, flight delays, and most recently, live updates aboard the new wi-fi equipped aircraft. SouthwestAir uses a light-hearted tone to chat with followers on Twitter. Employees post tweets using phrases such as “super cool” and “bummer.” Followers also exchange jokes with employees frequently. With its high customer satisfaction ratings, Southwest can interact with customers in a casual manner, similar to how Southwest flight attendants talk with travelers on-board.
Comcast twitterer, Comcastcares, answers customer service questions and concerns. Comcast doesn’t have as high customer satisfaction marks as Southwest, and therefore utilizes Twitter to gain customer trust.
Comcastcares, maintained by Frank Eliason, director of digital care at Comcast, has done a remarkable job revamping the frustrated relationship between Comcast and its customers. Comcastcares has a slightly serious tone because customers need their questions answered quickly and accurately.Wachovia uses a very formal tone to interact with customers on Twitter. Twittering Wachovia employees don’t introduce themselves with photos and professional information like those at Comcast. In fact, Wachovia doesn’t provide as much corporate information or links to other corporate social media as Southwest does either.
Wachovia sends out tweets with a formal, marketing tone. Check out the tweet from @greenbanking on March 27th. Greenbanking promotes paperless billpay, in a commercial voice, which is much less authentic than the voice of SouthwestAir.
But is a casual, joking tone too aloof? Or is a marketing voice too distant? Jokes may decrease credibility, but formalities may take away from the authentic relationships built on Twitter.
Tone of voice on Twitter depends on corporate culture. Southwest uses an authentic, jovial voice because employees are encouraged to act that way in real-time. Wachovia employees naturally use a formal tone because of the rigid structure of the banking industry.
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April 1, 2009 at 3:38 am
Nicole Fiorella
Hey Lindsey,
I love that you blogged about Twitter. I know it is continuing to become more and more popular everyday and I think that tweet “norms” or dialect is increasing, too. Twitter slang is almost necessary sometimes because of the restricted 140 characters. I know this doesn’t necessarily mean the words “bummer” and “supercool” should always be used, but I don’t see it as a bad thing. Of course it depends on the company. I would expect Wachovia to appear more professional simply because they are a bank. Comcast is a company that provides media to the public and I find it acceptable to speak in a more nonchalant tone.
In a previous post of mine I discussed the social media outlets of Carnival Cruise Line.http://nicolemfiorella.com/2009/03/05/communication-on-a-cruise-ship/ They also use Twitter in the same manner as Southwest. Carnival provides weather, boat, and activity updates in a very casual tone. Comcast and Carnival have the ability to tweet in this tone because their demographic can relate to them in such a dialect.
I think Twitter is definitely up and coming. I have seen the light and am an advocate for Twitter because I find it to be very beneficial for companies and consumers to communicate in a more simple casual manner. Twitter has definitely grown on me, and I hope that eventually others will realize its great capabilities, too.
April 1, 2009 at 3:39 am
Nicole Fiorella
Hey sorry the link to my post didn’t work. Here it is again http://nicolemfiorella.com/2009/03/05/communication-on-a-cruise-ship/
April 1, 2009 at 4:52 am
Lindsey Monroe
Nicole,
What I worry about with the “Twitter manners” is when does a professional, serious banker’s tone, cross the line into a distant advertising voice.
But I also think Twitter will grow in the corporate world. It’s a great way for communications professionals to practice concise writing techniques.
April 1, 2009 at 4:16 pm
Sarah Lokitis
Lindsey,
I just wrote a couple posts about how companies are using Twitter ( http://sarahlokitis.com/2009/03/23/zappos-microblogging-with-twitter/#comments and http://sarahlokitis.com/2009/03/28/southwest-blogs-and-twitter/ ). I found that Twitter is an excellent way for a company to inform its “followers” quickly and concisely. Some companies spend a lot of time on Twitter updating on weather or customer service. Zappos and Southwest have really established conversational tones that reveal a fun, thoughtful personality. Shel Holtz wrote on his blog (
http://blog.holtz.com/index.php/weblog/twitter_gateway_to_substantive_content/Tweets ) about the importance of Twitter leading “followers” to new information through links. I have used Twitter lately to listen to what others are saying and the people I am “following” have linked to interesting articles and videos. It is easy to build relationships and learn about other people through Twitter.
I believe that because of the character limit and the fact it is a new social media application, Twitter does not have to remain completely serious with topics only related to their company. Companies should be professional, but do not have to always speak formally to their audience. Twitter should establish a human quality to the organization.