Business leaders all a-twitter about Twitter

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June 23, 2009

By Ethan Forman The Salem News Tue Jun 23, 2009, 01:00 AM EDT

BEVERLY — The power of social networking sites like Twitter was on display at Endicott College last week when 300 people showed up to an event and not one tree was felled to get them there.

To draw attendees to "The Big Tweet" and to save money, all the invitations were sent out online, said Enterprise Center Executive Director Christine Sullivan, co-president of the Creative Economy Association of the North Shore.

A "Tweet group" was set up, and the event was posted on Facebook, Meetup.org and LinkedIn, the last being a social networking site for business professionals. Jen Lincoln, the director of CEANS, even sent an Evite, another free online tool.

"This is all a big experiment for everybody," Sullivan said. "We are trying to understand social networking."

Many at the June 17 event said they were exploring the free social networking sites familiar to kids but not to many adults. They want to use them not just to say: "What are you doing?" They want to make money.

"I think it's the now, it's the future, it's business development," said Joyce Snell of Salem, founder of Professional Career Solutions in Boston. "From a career development point of view, it's important."

"How many of you tweet?" asked Ben Bassi, an Internet veteran and CEO and president of CommonPlaces e-Solutions LLC of Hampstead, N.H. About half those in the audience raised their hands.

"There are a lot of companies that are making a lot of money and really moving their companies forward by using this free tool," he said.

While most companies use social networking sites to build brand awareness, some are using it to make sales, while professional athletes are defending their reputations and brands one-on-one with fans, Bassi said.

A Los Angeles gourmet Korean barbecue sandwich truck company, Kogi, began tweeting its next stop to customers' mobile devices, and sales took off. Others attending The Big Tweet said such sites play a role in connecting people.

"It's more of a tool for me to search out discussion going on and to be a part of them," said Matthew Lloyd, president of M2L2 Communications and Design, a startup communications firm housed at the Enterprise Center in Salem.

Staff writer Ethan Forman can be reached at 978-338-2673, by e-mail at eforman@salemnews.com or on Twitter at www.twitter.com/SalemNewsGuy.

What is Twitter?

Twitter is a free online tool that allows users to exchange messages of 140 characters or less, along with photos and links to Web sites. The messages, or tweets, are received as cell phone text messages or e-mails. Users build lists of "followers" who receive these tweets simultaneously.

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