I’m not a social media newbie, but it took me a while to start using Twitter.  My hesitation was associated with the cost-benefit analysis I was doing in my head.  The cost being time spent “tweeting” and the benefit being a big question mark.  After months of analysis with no clear answer, I decided to try Twitter on for size and see if it fit.

I’m happy that I finally made the decision to start using Twitter before Oprah.  I like to think of myself as an early adopter or in the early majority, especially when it comes to technology, so it would have been a blow to be part of the wave that signed up for Twitter just because Oprah did.  But, I digress.  Now that I am tweeting every now and again, I’m beginning to see some benefits.

I read a blog post today that helped me see how companies – big companies – are also using Twitter.  Here is an excerpt from Suzanne Traver’s post:

“My favorite social media story this week involves Pizza Hut. Like the rest of us they saw what happened to Dominos when a couple of employees decided to contaminate food, video the process and post it on the web for the world to see.

The videos were being discussed on Twitter days before the news broke in mainstream media. Domino’s slow response was as newsworthy as was the story of their employee’s behavior.

With their competition playing catch up Pizza Hut garnered good press by creating a Summer Twinternship. Bob Kraut, the vice president for marketing communications at the company says. “They’ll be our social media journalist, chronicling in 140 characters or less what’s going on at Pizza Hut.”

This is a great opportunity for a young person and another wake up call for boomers like me. To remain relevant in the workforce embracing social media is critical.”

I now use Twitter as a tool to actively manage my brand on the internet (follow me @coach4career).  What do you think of Twitter?