Originally, I was going to post about the Kindle because I just ordered one and the implications of the Kindle to the publishing industry are overwhelming. But I didn’t receive it yet and I thought I would capture that real time instead (maybe even video?).

Instead, I’ve been thinking over the past year how Twitter can be  valuable for collaboration not only within an enterprise but also between an enterprise and their customers.  There’s been web chatter about Twitter’s secret monetization strategy and my theory is that they may be heading down this commercial path as more enterprise marketing organizations are beginning to leverage twitter for brand communications.

I’ve been a twitter user for more than a year.  I’ve primarily used it as  a mechanism to update fans on what I’m doing and finding out what kinds of things are interesting to them so as to incorporate these ideas into the podcast.  I’m amazed at how quickly Knitters (yes, with a capital K!) have caught on to the value of tools like Twitter and Plurk and how they  manage to incorporate Twitter/Plurk into their knitting work flow.

Some examples:

• Cries out for help on pattern errors
• Show and Tell on completed projects
• Latest news in the industry
• Updates from conferences and festivals

These are just a few off the top of my head.

So how can an enterprise leverage Twitter?

It’s ironic that just yesterday the discussion came up about how our organization is using Instant Messaging for better collaboration within our IT process and business processes.  It’s more timely than email, there are broadcast capabilities and there is a sense of immediacy that email doesn’t provide. It also includes attachment possibilities like email but is lighter weight.

I think Twitter, (hosted on the intranet or externally) is an interesting approach as well.  Since Twitter is an Opt-In or Subscription based platform, it cuts down on spamming messages and really targets people or messages that are valuable to the subscriber.

For instance:

• Group activities can be announced as they occur this way all team members could subscribe to the group members to monitor broadcast current issues and status
• Senior leaders can use it to keep the enterprise up to date on their activities. It’s not as cumbersome to twitter as it is to blog for someone of this level.
• HR/Corp Communications organizations can update the enterprise on timely events and respond to concerns
• Project teams can coordinate around the world and share progress and discussions.
• Announcements to customers about product releases and announcements
• Communications to customers on upcoming events

Again just a few ideas.

What about in your enterprise, are you using Twitter now or can you consider other approaches and uses for Twitter in your enterprise?