First the Twitterati, now the Twitter IT
September 18th, 2008 by Rob Brown
Recently I wrote about the rise of the Twitterati and how Twitter was becoming a way for celebrities to engage with their fans. Incidentally after a few days of silence Andy Murray is now microblogging again.
Today social media pioneer Neville Hobson used Twitter as a quasi IT department. On discovering that his website had vanished, Neville or ‘Jangles’ as he is know in twitterville, turned to the fast growing online community for help. Shortly after 8am GMT Neville posted a cheery hello followed a couple of minutes later by the following; “Whoa, looks like my blog disappeared. Someone else there instead. Wtf?”. Just three minutes later Neville was getting advice from fellow users of the Twitter service, notably from 6consulting. Throughout the day Neville was updating on his progress and the lack of a response from hosting company Dreamhost. Given that Neville has over 1,700 followers on Twitter that’s a real PR issue. By tea time the site was back up but I wonder at what cost to Dreamhost, who according to the tweets still hadn’t contacted Mr H.
With user numbers growing 422% year on year, Twitter is a phenomenally simple idea that provides seemingly limitless possibilities. Yes it’s a social network, but you can use it as a social search tool, a promotional mechanic, a news feed or a micro diary or even for IT support. I wonder, did anyone suggest to Neville that he switched it off and on again?
