Twitterfone UK

Since its launch in the US in 2006, Twitter quickly gained media attention and Twitter-ers in and around America. Twitter is a quasi micro-blogging social networking tool for those that have been watching dancing bananas. It allows Twitter-ers to Twit (update) their feed as and when they wanted - sound like a status update on a recently face lifted book anyone?

At first I was sceptical; I thought ‘why would I Twitter when I was updating my Facebook status with titbits of my life and thoughts already?’ In the US Twitter allowed users to Twitter via mobiles, allowing for short and punchy updates to be made conveniently without having to go online and login anywhere, however this functionality was not yet enabled in the UK. Last night Twitter launched a partnership service with Vodafone UK allowing Vodafone users to send free SMS updates to their Twitter feeds. Mobile Twitter had arrived in the Kingdom of the United.

At the moment I think Twitter is at risk of becoming (if not already) the ultimate mass opt-in spam marketing service. On my Twitter, I seldom receive the personalised updates that I was expecting. The ratio of personal Twits compared to marketing Twits on my feed is about 1:100 – not an exaggeration nor inspirational as a user. I am sure many a marketer is in the mind frame that if they harness Twitter for their brand, they are instantly riding the peak of an innovation wave in marketing communication, however I beg to suggest otherwise. Direct emails are largely looked at as Spam, and I believe that unless marketers tailor their Twitter marketing to become effective and likeable updates, they will drown in a riptide of hostility. Perhaps the introduction of media features to Twitter will help them out? I shall observe will much interest as always. Tools such as Twilert are very interesting; a progressive Twitter marketing tool that I believe will help everyone toward a balance between the social and marketing aspects of Twitter for marketers and end-users alike.

On a personal note, I updated my Twitter for the first time via mobile yesterday evening as soon as I heard about the new service. Let’s see if I become a regular mobile Twitter-er. Are you going to twitter via mobile SMS?