TechPulse 360

Ok. So nearly 70 percent of U.S. adults don’t know enough about the online service Twitter to have an opinion.

Despite its rapid growth, the micro-blogging sensation still appeals to only a small slice of the population – even as Facebook boasts of 250 million worldwide users.

What’s interesting, however, is how this Twitter-digerati has been changing the way it uses the service. According to a TNS and Conference Board survey, nearly a quarter of Twitter users now use it for work, and 26 percent say they log in to find news and stay updated.

Perhaps this is no surprise considering how widely Twitter was used to broadcast information from Iran during the recent presidential protests. And of course we all recall how Twitter was there when a jet went down in the Hudson River.

Still, Twitter’s business migration is an interesting confirmation of the growing role for micro blogging. The site got its start as a place to stay in touch with friends and for members to ell the world what they are doing.

Now it is finding a new, more necessary role in the office and for news distribution, as the Iran protests illustrate.

According to the survey, 22 percent of Twitter members use it for business. This is especially true among the 35 to 54 year old age group, and it is divided evenly among men and women.

Thirty-one percent of male uses say they use it to find news/

Welcome to the workplace, Twitter. Your presence will likely encourage the other 70 percent get an opinion about what you do.

The Twitter 101 guide for businesses wanting to do business on Twitter gets, well, down to business.

Twitter posts a 101 guide to business use of its online service

Or, at least that is the intent. The popular micro-blogging site post the guide late Thursday with 10 case studies and suggestions on how companies can get the most out of the online service.

Several of the studies detail the experiences of well-known Twitter users: JetBlue and Dell Outlet, for instance. Others break new ground: such as with the Teusner winery from Australia.

None of the information is startling or magical. Twitter suggests businesses retweet interesting posts, offer coupons and not spam followers with dozens of tweets. Another obvious observation: “If you’ve just launched a product, ask users what they think or search for real-time tweets from people talking about your product.”

Here are some observations from the case studies:

Computer maker Dell now has 80 branded Twitter accounts and more than 100 employees who use Twitter, including StefanieAtDell, who handles customer service exchanges.

The company’s Dell Outlet uses Twitter to distribute product news, offer coupons and communicate with customers. It suggests tweeting only a few times a week so as not to spam followers and to track URL activity to determine what people find most interesting.

Dell Outlet believes it has generated $3 million in revenue attributable to its Twitter activity.

JetBlue has almost a million Twitter followers. It uses its account to distribute information – on flight delays, for instance – and to answer customer questions.

Less than 10 staffers have the authority to post, though other key people in departments across the country have permission to answer questions. Next on the to-do list is to staff the account 24/7.

Teusner searches the service to find people who’ve comment on its wine. Then it sends a note thanking them for trying the wine.

The result is an increase in the number of people coming to the winery for tours and to the company’s Website to explore.

Twitter 101 is a first step in a long learning process. It shows there is tremendous potential for Twitter’s moneymaking initiatives for business expected later this year.

Twitter has been studying how businesses use and interact with consumers on its micro blogging site – but isn’t ready to talk about its work.

Twitter getting ready to talk about use cases and best practices

“From this research, findings, use cases, and best practices have emerged,” co-founder Biz Stone wrote Wednesday on the company’s blog. “We’re putting together a document based on our studies and we’ll find a spot on our web site to share it with everyone when it’s ready.”

This odd announcement makes me wonder about just how useful this apparently well-meaning initiative will be. Twitter hopes to show how companies have adapted marketing and customer-service programs to the real-time Web. But are the benefits so difficult to find and hard to quantify that it is having a hard time explaining the business case?

In his blog entry, Stone highlights two companies that have found ways of turning Twitter into a business tool. But no details are available on the success of the efforts.

One is a cookie shop that notifies its customers when a new batch of chocolate chips come out of the oven. The other is Best Buy, which developed Twelpforce to let employees interact with customers who have questions about products.

It seems that so far businesses are in a phase of experimentation with Twitter. Many indeed are excited about using the site to their advantage, but don’t yet know whether there will be a payback.

So maybe the Twitter research will be interesting. Let’s just hope it is more substance than form.