How executives are using Twitter...

Recently I came across an insightful BusinessWeek magazine article on the subject of Executives using Twitter to help them better run their businesses. My next sequence of postings will be excerpts and highlights that I hope you find interesting. Please feel free to share additional uses you’re finding…

• Kevin Rose, Chief Executive of Digg says, “Twitter is a great way for us to get news out about Digg. Whether it’s company announcements or sharing information, Twitter is a great way to reach people quickly.

• Tony Hsieh of Zappos.com says “I suggested it to the rest of the company initially just to help build our company culture…Now a lot of customers know we are on it as well, and, it’s a good way for them to get insight into our personality and culture.

• Jason Calacanis of Mahalo.com says, “With Twitter, I can release new features and ideas to Mahalo’s ‘superfans’ ahead of time to get their input. Many of the bloggers and press watch my Twitter stream as well, so if I want to leak something to the press, I can do it by just saying ‘what do you think about this…?’ and if it’s notable, it will be on 10 blogs in a day. So, for me, it’s part focus group, part press release system, and, a lot of fun to interact with users and fans.”

• Michael Arrington, co-founder of Twitter says, “Discussions break out on Twitter regularly, and we post links to most of our posts there. Sometimes the tone of the discussion is much different from the one that occurs in the comments on our blog. It also sends a fair amount of (website) traffic.”

• Loic Lemeur, Chief Executive of Seesmic says, “I know there is always a friend, at any time, which has the answer I am looking for about anything. But careful, it does not come for free. As a Twitter user you have to share and give value first, which is part of the process. Listening to my Twitter feed is also the best ‘focus group’ you can get. It is active 24 hours a day and feedback comes instantly without any filter. I keep improving our product with everything I hear from my Twitter community.”