Business Leaders All A-Twitter about Twitter

BEVERLY — The power of social networking sites like Twitter was on display at Endicott College last week when 300 people showed up to an event and not one tree was felled to get them there.

To draw attendees to “The Big Tweet” and to save money, all the invitations were sent out online, said Enterprise Center Executive Director Christine Sullivan, co-president of the Creative Economy Association of the North Shore.

A “Tweet group” was set up, and the event was posted on Facebook, Meetup.org and LinkedIn, the last being a social networking site for business professionals. Jen Lincoln, the director of CEANS, even sent an Evite, another free online tool.

“This is all a big experiment for everybody,” Sullivan said. “We are trying to understand social networking.”

Many at the June 17 event said they were exploring the free social networking sites familiar to kids but not to many adults. They want to use them not just to say: “What are you doing?” They want to make money.

“I think it’s the now, it’s the future, it’s business development,” said Joyce Snell of Salem, founder of Professional Career Solutions in Boston. “From a career development point of view, it’s important.”
Read more…

http://www.salemnews.com/pubiz/local_story_173215722.html

Boston Herald Article on the Big Tweet

Interesting article in the Herald about using Twitter.

http://tinyurl.com/nhzzht

Observations about Social Media

Before the CEANS Board had decided on experimenting with an event revolved around Twitter, I will fully admit that I had not used Twitter with any regularity. Sure, I had a user name (what was it?), but used it so little I not only forgot the password, I forgot the user name. This is the case with the majority of Twitter users. Going through the process of the event, however, I started using Twitter on a daily, even hourly basis, and at a certain point I reached a treshold where I started to see the value to it. Twitter is about community and connecting quickly.

The night of the event, I was excited about the technology that we had set up with the help of Apple and CommonPlaces. Our plan was to have people learn about the value of Twitter and then partake in real time Twittering to connect with one another. 

This didn’t happen…

 Even though everyone was jazzed after Ben Bassi’s presentation and excited to set up Twitter with their businesses, most people did not use Twitter at the event. Sure, we sent out tweets, but people were so focused on talking and schmoozing and networking in person, that the technology was completely secondary. Perhaps that is the lesson for the night- Twitter, facebook, linkedin, digg, and the other 100s of social media sites ARE GREAT tools, but they are only tools that can never replace the power of in person interaction.

Twitter- An Easy Guide to Tweeting

Thanks to CommonPlaces for providing this simple guide! Hash tags, d, @ –what the heck are those? Read on to find out.

http://prezi.com/86199/

CEANS TWEET

Twitter 101- Not on twitter, yet?

We decided to dive right into Twitter. This is an opportunity for beginners and advanced alike to learn something from this social networking experiment, to share thoughts about it, and to do business in the process.

Let the tweeting begin!

Big Tweet This is the CEANS’ Signature Networking Event held on June 17 at the lovely new Center for the Arts at Endicott College. We are using it as an opportunity to explore how to use twitter with a group, and who better than the most creative and innovative businesses in the region.

Step 1. Sign up. This is easy. Just go to www.twitter.com and register. I highly recommend going through the video tutorial for this.

Step 2. Follow our CEANS TWEET for the event.  Our group was registered through grouptweet.com which allows all participants of the event to send messages to the group. Do this by sending a direct message to www.twitter.com/ceanstweet

Go ahead. Try it and let us know what you think.

Twitter, Tweeting, tweetberry, twibe oh my

Tweet Tweet

I know I should use twitter and I have tweeted events, news, and updates for my organization.  Like so many tweeters, I am not certain if it’s reaching my target audience and how to use it effectively.  I don’t think people want to read  about my super road race or the antics of my dog (although my dog can be quite funny). I do see it’s power when I read about Moldavia and how 5 people, through twitter galvanized a protest of 5000. Amazing.

With CEANS’ upcoming event “The Big Tweet” on June 17th, I hope to learn how to use twitter better, and invite you to come along for the ride.

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Jennifer Lincoln

Director

Creative Economy Association of the North Shore

www.ceans.org

jlincoln@ceans.org