The Citysearch business directory has integrated Twitter into its service, allowing businesses to access Twitter, include tweets about businesses on their profile pages and respond to consumer questions through the short messaging service.
This is good news for local businesses who know Twitter is important — but don't know how to use it. Joining and using Twitter through the Citysearch tool they're likely already familiar with should give them the chance to "put out fires" by addressing customer complaints before they gain critical mass.
According to the announcement, "consumers will also be able to view tweets tied to businesses any time they are on a local business listing page." However, businesses will have the ability to filter out negative tweets from their Citysearch listings. "All tweets about the business come through the API," said Citysearch spokeswoman Darcy Cobb, "but Citysearch has built-in functionality to enable the business to block someone if they choose to."
This poor decision makes it possible for any company to sanitize Twitter feedback and thus does all companies on Citysearch a disservice — even those who choose to let it all hang out, since there is no way to prove that you don't. It's not as if the knocks aren't out there for anyone to see beyond the walls of Citysearch since they'd all come up on a Twitter search and the company's own Twitter page.
In addition to having their tweets about a business show up on the Citysearch page for a business, consumers will be able to send direct messages to business owners from the directory, offering quicker and more efficient communication than phone or e-mail.
"Adding valuable real-time information from Twitter makes sense," said Citysearch's senior vice president of publishing, Kara Nortman. "Social media plays a powerful role in how consumers share recommendations and it gives local businesses a platform to manage their online reputations."
Businesses can sign up for Twitter on Citysearch without going to the Twitter website -- the first time that has been possible, and a sign that Twitter increasingly sees itself as a communication protocol, like e-mail, rather than a destination site, like Facebook.
See Also:
- Twitter to Launch Business Tools by Year-End
- Twitter Could 'Go for Years' Without Earning a Dime, Investor Says
- Twitter to Get Down to Business in 2009, Investors Say
- Twitter Fast Growing Beyond Its Messaging Roots
- The Best Ways to Discover Music Through Twitter
- Study: 54 Percent of Companies Ban Facebook, Twitter at Work
- Ask and You Shall Receive (An Answer on Twitter)
