Simple Virtual Collaboration – Twitter

Posted under Business Related, Free Resources, Productivity, Tools by ltruex

With so many people working virtually, workers need a way to keep in contact and informed with each other. Email has been one way. Instant message and chat has been another. But when several people need to be kept in a loop that is frequently changing, using a mini-blog, like Twitter offers an easy and free solution.

Through Twitter members of a team can keep other members abreast of changes, give feedback, and provide resources that are instantly viewable by all other members. No more forwarding email or managing multiple IM boxes. While chat software offers some of the same benefits, with Twitter you don’t need to be in a chat room. You simply input your messages and its posted for the rest of the team. When someone else has something to share, its automatically posted to your Twitter page as well. You can even add your Twitter to iGoogle, downloaded onto your desktop, post from your blog or get other applications to make it easier to use. (Note at the end of each of my blog posts is a button that says Twit This from which you can Tweet a message about this post.)

You can respond directly to specific comments posted by other simply by clicking the arrow icon next to the post. Your reply will be listed in the Twitter dialogue but also in the reply box of the person to whom you’ve responded. Private messaging is available as well.

Twitter is a social networking resources on which people can follow you and you can follow other people. But you can keep your Twitter group private simply by checking the box at the bottom of the Settings, Account page that says “Protect my updates”. By clicking the box, only the people you approve can follow your posts and you are not added to the public timeline.

Twitter can be addictive so if you’re using for work purposes, you’ll want to be careful you don’t get caught up in Twit Chat. You can learn more by visiting Twitter. You can check out my Twitter page here.