What's all this crap with twitter? Is it something a business-to-business marketers ought to care about?

Some people get downright defensive when I say Twitter has little value in the business-to-business world right now. I've tested it for my business, but until I see it in my refer logs or it creates sales, I'll be skeptical.

Twitter works real well for reaching people who have a time to chat during the day. It's like reaching teens with IM. You can reach mothers, students, and unproductive office workers. Right now they have a lot of publicity so advertising firms are pouring money into folks who sit and twitter.
It won't hurt using it (or at least testing it a little) however, until it makes me a little money, I'm not pushing it.
Where twitter may come into play for the business-to-business world will be when people connect it to their cell phones using SMS messaging. You may be able to broadcast coupons, offers, or even service alerts.
You'll want to test it, if your buyers are using it, so should you. Some time in the future twitter will need to monetize the service, so if you can get something out of it today while it's free that's fine, but test it against what you are doing that works.
Just because it's free and the guru's are talking about it doesn't mean you need to do it. Depending on your customers behaviors, it could become a strong traffic source for your website, or a complete waste of your time.
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Justin Hitt provides consulting around sustainable business-to-business Internet and direct marketing. You can reach him at https://www.jwhco.com/