Web 2.0 has some Richmond businesses in a Twitter

Editor’s Note: Welcome to the first installment of a series examining social networking and how Richmond businesses are navigating the web to meet one another and promote their businesses. On Thursday we will be examining Facebook and LinkedIn, and on Friday the business of selling social media.

In one corner there are Twitterers. Richmonders like NBC newscaster Ryan Nobles, who uses the website to post blurbs about his life several times a day:

“Wearing this shirt the way Mr. Crew intended.”

And: “I hate the #Phillies. Seriously. As much as I hate people who kill puppies. #fb”

Or Chris Wilmore from Carmax, who recently wrote, “At Tara Thai at Short Pump Mall meeting a friend for lunch!”

In the other corner are Richmonders who find the idea of posting exclamation-point-laced minutiae absurd and are baffled as to why companies are using the same websites as teenagers.

For all the talk about how Web 2.0 is “revolutionizing” business, local professionals say the rules of blogging and Twitter are almost identical to those that apply to old-fashioned, face-to-face networking. Don’t blatantly plug your business. Try to make yourself likable, and then people will want to do business with you.

According to dozens of interviews with local business owners and marketing professionals, it’s unclear how helpful Twitter is for most businesses, or even if it is more effective than more traditional marketing strategies (handing out business cards, cold calling, seminars, etc.). And businesses report spending a varying amount of time with the website. Read more