Main Point of Twitter? Re-Tweeting.

Shoot. What’s the point of Twitter? I have caught myself numerous times at meetings, seminars, and in casual conversations not being able to answer that question.

It goes something like this:

“Uh, well I use it for information gathering and well… some people use it to keep up to date with friends.. Yah, ya know… You might as well use it for 30 days and just figure out what it can do for you.”

Stupid answer. I know.

I have been debating this for awhile now and have even written about the concept of Twitter not having much of a brand identity (which I will write about later). I was reading a new post from David Armano of Logic+Emotion called Tapping Twitter’s Viral Nature and he has been talking about the “viral value” of re-tweeting. The main point of Twitter? I would lke to think so.

What are the two main marketing tools small business owners would love to have working on their side: Word-of-Mouth Marketing and Viral Marketing. When you are using Twitter the most valuable tool you have are the friends/followers who will re-tweet the information you are sharing.This is viral marketing at it’s finest.

Why is Re-Tweeting So Important?

1. Your followers are sharing the information you provided with the people following them. Your Twitter name gets shared, as well as your information. The link you provided or little nugget of information will be shared numerous times between (potentially) hundreds of people.

2. In my opinion, Re-Tweeting is the backbone of Twitter. It gives users the ability to combine information, share and converse on topics with hundreds of people at once.

Is there business value to Re-Tweeting and Twitter?

The business value of Twitter and re-tweeting could be a completely seperate post. The biz value of Twitter is all dependent on your goals when using social media as a marketing solution.

Do you feel Twitter and re-tweeting has business value? Is sharing content of your blog and other related information give you a return on investment for your time spent sharing information?

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