My last post “Creative ways to leverage Twitter” received some very positive emails and feedback.

Paul F. said: “I thought Twitter was a useless toy at first, but now I see it has potential to be a great tool.”

Someone identified as geek2.0 sent me a note that said: “Loved your post about Twitter. I have a feeling it’s going to be the big star out of web 2.0 sites, maybe more than Facebook.”

What are some other creative uses of Twitter?

I’ve been scouring Twitter looking for another example of an interesting way to use Twitter. For the most part, it’s more of the same. But it occurred to me that if a company were inclined, Twitter could be a great replacement for forums, and the networking nature could provide a benefit that forums don’t - new customers. What do I mean?

With a forum, users register to be able to read and post to the forum. Other users comment, and if the forum is run by or moderated by a company (an example is technical support forums for software) than frequently you get responses from company representatives. This is fine if you want the conversations to be fairly encapsulated within the forum. But what if you want to use the forum to grow your business? Having existing customers talk about your product with other existing customers can drive self-service behaviors, drive down support costs, but most importantly can spread positive word of mouth. How can Twitter be an equal or better option to existing forums?

Twitter provides a more public forum and allows people who are already using the site to network a new way to interact with your brand, using a social network they are already participating in. Now not only do other customers see their posts about your brand, but so does the rest of their network (and anyone searching on Google for that matter.) It leverages the network effects of Twitter not just to solve the problem or answer the question, but also to raise awareness of the brand.

Another considerable benefit of using Twitter as a forum is the transparency this gives to the company’s technology and support. Now users can hear how others are using the product, or solving the problem, or unique ways they’ve been able to leverage whatever widgets the company builds. Sure, this could be a problem if your customers hate your product or you have frequent trouble keeping things working - but frankly if this is the case then transparency isn’t your concern.

If you are a technology company and you offer (and meet) your SLA requirement in your terms of service, why not make that entire interaction public? Get the search engine visibility, PR or blog promotion, and network benefits of using a site like Twitter as your help desk. One of the biggest complaints of many software customers is the agony of having to submit a support issue through the automated attendant, or the online trouble ticket software that may or may not net you a response. With Twitter, your customers may end up solving each other’s problems - saving you time and resources.

What’s cool about Twitter is that it’s a blank canvas. It’s a new communication tool with a world of possibilities. Any other ideas for creative ways to use Twitter?