Comments on: Twistory 101: It's All About Small Business

By: SEO Seattle

SEO Seattle — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:19:20 +0000

Thanks for the link to http://business.twitter.com/twitter101/

Maybe this will help me to help those that just don't get it.

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By: Nick

Nick — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:02:46 +0000

Nail on the head with SMBs being one of the key’s to Overture’s downfall in UK. Self service nature of adwords certainly suited SMBs much better than the old Overture system (editorial approval for every listing!!!!) When I left Overture had something like 25k accounts in the UK versus 100k for Google.

By: Lorna

Lorna — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 11:26:10 +0000

There’s no argument here. Social Networking is one of the most important ways to get the word out about you and what you’re doing…
A lot of people ask, “who cares?” but well, just like a lot of us became curious about how Google works, Twitter is fast evolving into an online marketing tool! Thanks for the great post!

By: MaryAnn

MaryAnn — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 05:42:58 +0000

Very much enjoy your ongoing posts on Twitter's evolution. This one is spot on. Twitter's launch of Twitter 101 for Business this past week coupled with news of a new interface to "better show who we are" http://bit.ly/fPtc5 point to Twitter seeing a big opportunity in the SMB space. And we all know how Google profited by this focus!

SMB's are really paying attention to what social media can do. Just was at the local pool Saturday with friend and local restaurant owner of Jack N Dyl's in Tarrytown, NY who is figuring out all they can be doing using Twitter as well as Facebook to promote business.

By: fakeadexperts

fakeadexperts — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 22:52:11 +0000

gotta love all the smart ad experts talking about TweetSense-like systems for small businesses. Can someone tell me what that means? What kind of system? Is it keyword targeted? If so, how does Twitter avoid the Overture/Yahoo patent that they sued Google with? John always likes to blow hard but never likes to come up with solutions. I dare him to try.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 19:44:33 +0000

Sebastien, Twitter presents a similar threat to the Yellow Pages publishers that social review sites such as Yelp did when they emerged a few years ago. The thing is I actually think sites like Yelp have just as much to lose because of Twitter.

If Twitter can become the de facto place where conversations take place – between SMB customers, between SMBs and their customers and between SMBs – then they have pretty much usurped the space that Yelp has staked out. All they have to do is figure out how to match those conversations to a business record, easily licensed from Localeze, InfoUSA, etc., and they have the makings of a pretty amazing IYP. Then they syndicate those conversations out to all of the other IYPs who rely on search for most of their traffic and they really start to take over in a Google-like fashion.

By: Rahmin

Rahmin — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 19:14:38 +0000

Solid analysis John. Given the importance of SMBs, I'm surprised you didn't include Facebook in the discussion. It appears that they have a substantial head start in the market and many SMBs are finding great returns on their Social Ad spend.

Do you see Facebook and Twitter fighting for the same SMB customers in the end? Are there segments of the SMB market that will find more success on FB, and others on Twitter?

By: Sebastien

Sebastien — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 19:10:05 +0000

I couldn’t agree more. A few weeks ago, in my post “I Have Seen the Future of Local Media” (http://tinyurl.com/localmedia), I warned Yellow Pages publishers that real-time activity streams and real-time search represented a new shift in user paradigm. This is either an amazing opportunity for them(or a threat if they don’t embrace it!), the same way Google came along in 2000-2002 and blindsided them with simple user experience and great roi-driven local ads.

As I wrote a few weeks ago, “With Facebook and Twitter, we’re clearly seeing the emergence of new ”marketplaces”, where people and companies/brands meet to discuss, to share links (including news) but also to “buy” and “sell”. To the foreign eye, they’re noisy, unruly and useless but I think they are a modern version of souqs. According to Wikipedia, “souqs were more than just a market to buy and sell goods; they were also major festivals and many cultural and social activities took place in them”.

Sounds familiar?