With Twitter reaching the collective consciousness of the mass populace, I am being asked more and more frequently during client meetings by those on the outer fringes of the adoption sphere:

“What about Twitter? Is Twitter considered web content?”

It’s a good question.

Digitalword is a web content company, and Twitter is certainly a continuous channel of content (both good and bad), indexed in real time by Google’s search engine results, whose very definition is: “micro-blogging in 140 characters or less”.

Combine this with the fact that more and more conferences for professionals in conventional industries like accounting, financial planning, dentistry, interior design, and law are featuring presentations given by social media experts from my own industry evangelizing Twitter with “adopt or become obsolete” fervor that leaves conference participants thoroughly confused as to whether 140 characters will make or break their entire careers.

While the Twitter content question is a fair one to ask – the tone of apprehension, hesitation, nervousness and wonderment with which they approach the question is one best reserved for things of greater importance …like private counsel with the Dalai Lama, perhaps. (I hold those in my industry accountable for making Twitter sound more complicated than it needs to be and, really, more important than it should be for many.)

Reality Check:

Twitter is a great way to:

- build relationships
- share knowledge with like-minded professionals
- expand networks
- increase your circle of influence
- provide online customer service

Twitter is not a great way to:

- provide customer service if your customers aren’t on Twitter
- provide customer service if you deal with sensitive or confidential information (while a well-intentioned @ reply to “bunnyslippermom” might seem covert enough to get around your corporate privacy policy, Twitter is still very much in the public domain)
- build relationships if your target audience isn’t on Twitter
- build your personal or corporate brand if you aren’t going to put the time in to Tweet regularly

Note: Twitter will NOT make you a better dentist, lawyer, or accountant, but it can grow your client base (if that’s something you want/need to do) and it can be a great source of information (although for many of the more conventional industries, newsletters and conferences are still the preferred way to disseminate critical content).

When I founded Digitalword in 2005, it was based on the principal that all websites need professionally written web content in order to be successful. Fast forward to 2010 and I am now forced to re-evaluate the definition of “web content” with each client meeting I have:

“So, do you write scripts for online video?” – not yet. “Do you write content for blogs?” – let’s talk. “Can you research and write content for Twitter?” – no.

Here’s why.

Twitter isn’t really micro-blogging. The best comparison I have for clients is that Twitter is the 21st Century equivalent to the early 20th Century telephone party line. Twitter allows you to listen in on countless conversations for snippets of information that may or may not be relevant to you. Twitter allows you to hold conversations in soundbite format (Tweets) with other Tweeps (Twitter users) for all to hear and contribute to. And, Twitter lets you broadcast your own musings, rants, perceptions, and experiences in touret-like fashion for catharsis …or, if you’re lucky, validation.

As such, Twitter is a written, verbal conversation typed out in 140 characters like a public text message …making the content more about YOU, the individual, than about simply the words and messaging on the page. In order for Twitter to be effective, the conversation needs to be authentic, transparent, and …as juicy as the party line fodder devoured by the gossip-mongers of days past.

Twitter becomes your “voice” for you, and you alone, to leverage in the Twittersphere. Like it or not, your voice cannot be outsourced.