Twitter for Business

[jstoddard]

Originally Posted by Allan Edwards

Joe

I went to your Twitter site. http://twitter.com/moucon

Interesting. I'm still trying to figure twitter out. Does it have business applications??

Twitter is "micro blogging" - little snippets of messages (max 140 characters to be compliant with SMS) . How it started out is very different than what it is morphing into. I don't know if Twitter will live forever as a service (depends how smart they are as businesspeople), but micro-blogging is here to stay. Right now, Twitter is very vulnerable, but they do have all the traction in the world at the moment. (so did CompuServe 15 yrs ago...)

There is nothing extra-ordinary about Twitter's technology, or their interface or any of that. In fact, they've been scrambling to keep up with the explosion of users and it's clunky in spots. They thought they were building a little geeky utility and the users took it somewhere else altogether. I happen to love it when that happens (SketchUp is another example) - but that's secondary.

There are also many other ways to micro-blog, but Twitter covered the platform bases... I can send from, or receive on... just about any phone, any computer, I can use voice-to-text (Jott-to-Twitter). It archives messages so they're not just sent into vapor... and I can send/get to a mob in public or one-to-one in private. They've also opened up their API so lots of developers are building all kinds of add-ins and extensions that make it more and more useful. I also love it when that happens. Nothing sucks more than closed software that is frozen in time, driven by a programmer, instead of driven by armies of end-users.

Translation - I think they're going to be around, but don't be surprised if Google or someone else winds up with it.

Here's how I think it's useful for business applications.

One-to-Many Messages in real time:
Something happened on the jobsite - one quick message hits everyone who needs to know - and they can respond individually as-needed... instantly - to you, and/or to each other That beats the hell out of spending all day on a cell phone playing phone tag while the concrete shows up anyway...

Just think how much better off Virginia Tech (? - sorry if I have the wrong school) would have been if all those kids had been on Twitter when the lunatic gunman started shooting the place up. Even if the school didn't have it together enough to send the message, someone in one of the hostage rooms could have. (of course, you can also cry wolf pretty easily... some of these things need to be worked out) I go on the premise that "having knowledge" always trumps "being in the dark" so I'll take the good with the bad.


Reporting and journalism:
I can sit in a conference, or at a town meeting, or a courtroom- or anywhere I have phone service - and provide a live play-by-play of the goings-on. I love newspapers and am very sad that they're failing... but something is going to have to step up and fill the void. Micro-blogging is the cheapest, easiest way to bring people in to a happening, anywhere on the planet, at any time. In this country, maybe it's no big deal to send out a camera crew and a talking head... but micro-blogging is going to be huge for other places on the planet that aren't so lucky. With Twitter - you can feed your "tweets" to a website (like a chat room) - or people can follow on their phones, etc. Chat services do exactly the same thing - and are more polished - but again there's more infrastructure required . Right now Twitter is super-easy.

Published Job Logs:
Twitter is the modern replacement for Todd Wacome's FTP job log he wrote about in his "Working WITH the Web" article here on the site. The genius of that system he developed is that it shows the jobs warts and all - the problem...and the resolution. It's absolutely magical marketing. Twitter is the evolution... Todd's set-up required someone to transcribe the notes and upload them - Twitter eliminates that middleman - everything can just stream right on to the site.

Marketing
On that same note.. any of the "social" websites have one common thread for a builder/remodeler, and that is a way to position yourself a knowledgeable expert without spending a ton of money. It's no different than a builder getting very well connected locally and helping out on projects for the church, the country club, the local park. etc. for free or cheap... but more importantly lending the expertise to that community. An old roofer I used to work with taught me that. You're not gonna get every job from the members of the church... but you're sure going to be in a better position than if you blew them off. Online social communities are exactly the same.
Because you can "Tweet" into so many other places via all these extensions and add-ins.. it's a natural. If you have a big Facebook following, your twitter log there could be shared by people who are not even necesarily Twitter users themselves, etc.

Updating Our Affinity Groups:
Let's say we're watching something on the Tube, or listening to a lecture somewhere, or at the lumberyard and see something interesting... or a jobsite....Maybe I'm out on a client's jobsite and see a terrible safety violation that some of you might not be aware of... or you happen to catch a great piece of architecture somewhere.

For me- Twitter gives me a way to tell my readers and clients and anyone else who is interested right NOW, before I forget. Not when the next column gets published, when it's old news a month from now - or the next tradeshow that only a handful of you can get to... or even if I happen to remember to put it here... NOW.

You can search by topic/keyword on Twitter and "subscribe" to people's Tweets you find there.. or it can be people like me who you know. Let's say I want to learn how to play pedal steel guitar - I might "follow" some players who are into it and willing to share what they know.

That's why I'd encourage everyone reading this to go sign up for Twitter and then "follow" me at http://www.twitter.com/moucon You never know when I'm going to find something interesting to relay to y'all. Yes, there's overlap with the forum here, but I can't post here in real time- I can hit you with Twitter whenever wherever.

I'm just going to start doing it and see what happens. If it winds up being information overload, I'll bag it. (some people are ridiculous... David Gregory at MSNBC is "tweeting" when he unwraps his sub from subway for goddsake... ) But this is all new for everyone - it'll find its own level.

Well there's a few things to kick off the discussion.

JLS

PS - if this had been Twitter... instead of 1000 words and 20 minutes (for both the writer and the reader) it would have been 100 characters and 20 seconds.

[Bob Kovacs]

Joe-

Stupid question, but how is this any different that texting, instant messaging, or email? Using your Virginia Tech example, if one of the kids in one of the classes had a Blackberry and a contact list for the whole school, he/she could have sent an email to the student population. Admittedly, I haven't looked into "twittering", and don't even know what hardware and/or software you use to "twitter", but am I missing something?

[Allan Edwards]

Originally Posted by Bob Kovacs

Joe-

Stupid question, but how is this any different that texting, instant messaging, or email?

That was my exact question too. Also, how do you keep from checking your messages/email/phone 15 times a minute? I'm already addicted to my Blackberry, I can't go 5 minutes without checking it.

[Allan Edwards]

By the way, I went to sign up for Twitter and I already had an account I set up last September! And I can Jott to it, so that is set up and makes it easier.

I do see some value in sending tweets to others about what is happening on a micro level on jobs. I think. Too much information?

To me the benefit from a business viewpoint is more information is flowing to more people instantaneously. Deliveries, who is on a job, questions, problems, happenings, etc.

[Bob Kovacs]

Originally Posted by Allan Edwards

I'm already addicted to my Blackberry, I can't go 5 minutes without checking it!

Mine vibrates when I get a message, so there's no need to check it unless it's vibrating. The problem I have is when I'm driving, and it feels like its vibrating- I end up checking it when it hasn't done anything.

[Bob Kovacs]

Originally Posted by Allan Edwards

By the way, I went to sign up for Twitter and I already had an account I set up last September! And I can Jott to it, so that is set up and makes it easier.

I do see some value in sending tweets to others about what is happening on a micro level on jobs. I think. Too much information?

To me the benefit from a business viewpoint is more information is flowing to more people instantaneously. Deliveries, who is on a job, questions, problems, happenings, etc.

How are people getting these "tweets"- is it going to their phone, or their Blackberry, or what? And what if everyone you want to "tweet" to isn't set up with a "tweet" account?

It's probably the same issue we had with email a few years ago- the big guys were all set up with it, but the mom-and-pop shops weren't (or they had AOL, Hotmail, etc., accounts that only got checked at night), so it was impossible to communicate with "everyone" via email.

[Allan Edwards]

Originally Posted by Bob Kovacs

How are people getting these "tweets"- is it going to their phone, or their Blackberry, or what? And what if everyone you want to "tweet" to isn't set up with a "tweet" account?

It's probably the same issue we had with email a few years ago- the big guys were all set up with it, but the mom-and-pop shops weren't (or they had AOL, Hotmail, etc., accounts that only got checked at night), so it was impossible to communicate with "everyone" via email.

I think they receive them on their phone. I've noticed most (80%?) of my subs use some kind of email. About another 10% use text on their phone. 10% don't use anything.

[swbuilder]

Originally Posted by Allan Edwards

That was my exact question too. Also, how do you keep from checking your messages/email/phone 15 times a minute? I'm already addicted to my Blackberry, I can't go 5 minutes without checking it.

That'll require you, to hire me to be your information czar. I should be available sometime next year. :)

[Rick Westmoreland]

Wow! I can't believe how fast this thread died.

[Allan Edwards]

I am still trying to figure Twitter out. Not how to use it, but why to use it.

http://www.jott.com/Jott/twitter-jott-link.html

[Dick Seibert]

Looks like a tremendous waste of time to me, Doonesbury is currently running a spoof of the system, you should get today's strip on it, click the "Previous tab" to go back several days.

When cell phones first came out they were suppose to be such a time saver that we bought them for the foremen on the jobs, then after monitoring the call times I saw that one man had racked up 1,333 minutes in one month costing me almost $2,000 in lost wages alone, not counting the cost of the air time. After taking them away they all bought their own, I had to ban them on the jobs completely after seeing the waste continue. This "Tweeter" just seems to compound the problem, if Doonesbury parodies it you've got to know something is awry. You can't control personal calls, and when one man stops to talk to his wife or girlfriend the whole crew has to stop.

Back in the 70s I ran millions of dollars worth of work every year, as many as 25 union carpenters at one point, with no sales or office staff whatsoever, I did payrolls on Thursday night and paid all bills on the Sunday preceding the 10th of the month, I estimated and sold new work on nights and weekends, made my Planning Commission and City Council meetings at night to argue approvals. Between hitting the jobs during the day I met with architects and engineers, pled my case with bankers and bonding companies, and met with subcontractors and material suppliers. I did my ordering in the mornings starting at 6:00 am usually hitting the first job by 10:00 am. My biggest chore was pleading every morning with subcontractors to get them onto my jobs, even bribing them with extra money to get them to my jobs rahter than someone else's. I hate subcontractors! Somehow I managed to go to law school at night and fly away in my plane some on weekends, now I spend full time on a computer and don't even build anything anymore.

Technology, and especially computers, were suppose to create the paperless office and simplify the process, I know I'm old fashioned, but to me they have complicated everything immensely. I think one of the big differences is that I did all my check writing (bill paying and payroll) on a single entry pegboard system, I took everything down to my CPA once a year for taxes and financial statements for my bank and bonding company, if I needed to exceed my bond undertaking I'd have to take everything down on occasion during the year for an updated percentage of completion statement.

My former foreman of some 17 years has forged on even in this economy, is still making several million a year and doesn't know how to turn a computer on, he does have a cell phone but bans them on his jobsites, but he does nothing but spec homes in a wealthy area. He estimates nothing, after the job is complete and ready to sell he sets the price at what he thinks he can get at the top of the market. His theory is that the market sets the price and profit, costs have nothing to do with it, location, an approved design that is desirable in the market, unique materials that are not new (like roof and floor tile from chateaus in France) are what sell a home. He as found that low maintenance is a key to selling at the top of the market, and has gone almost exclusively to stone exteriors, they are easier to get approved as well. Why would he need a computer?

[Allan Edwards]

Originally Posted by Dick Seibert

I took everything down to my CPA once a year for taxes and financial statements.

So how did you know on a monthly or weekly or daily basis if you were making money in your company or on a particular job?

[Dick Seibert]

Originally Posted by Allan

So how did you know on a monthly or weekly or daily basis if you were making money in your company or on a particular job?
Reply With Quote

Didn't know and didn't want to know. I had made my deals and had to live with the deals I had made. Every year, usually during the "dead" week between Christmas and New Years, I analyzed each job to see where I was winning and losing, I would then adjust my labor up and down calculated between foundation, rough framing, exterior finish, and interior finish for estimating purposes, subcontractors' prices would give me an idea of how to adjust prices on similar estimates later.

The few times that I actually went in and totaled up costs while the jobs were on-going told me something, If I was ahead the jobs always turned out well with happy customers, if I was behind the jobs always turned out badly with unhappy customers, I decided that I owed the same level of service and care to a customer whether I won or lost, it was irrelevant anyway since there was nothing I could do about it after the fact, so I never looked back again, I made my deals, lived with them, and found out at tax time how I did. To this day I don't know whether my knowing I was doing poorly caused me to psychologically short-change the customer, and knowing I was doing well caused me to give more than obligated to give to the customer, or the customers themselves were the problem, me getting more from nice people and getting less from problem people. In any event, I decided that I didn't want to know, it couldn't do me any good to know, and I'd honor my contracts just the same for everyone by not knowing.

I've got a question for you, I managed to build up to about $3 million a year with no nonproductive staff (estimators, salesmen, secretaries, etc. [I've never hired any of these people and my former foreman hasn't either]), and that was back when homes cost 1/3 to 1/10th what they cost today. I've seen people come onto these fora with questions about adding office people and then find they are doing $600,000 a year, this blows my mind, why the overhead? At what point do you think a one-man contractor can get to volume-wise without any nonproductive staff? Didn't you hire your first office person at about $3 million? I was not overloaded personally at $3 million but don't know how much further I could have gone, hand-holding with the customers and architects seemed to be my most time-consuming chore, as well as getting the damn subcontractors on the jobs.

BTW, commercial, medical, and industrial was much easier than new homes, since much more work was subcontracted I could do much more work without help, although the architects' were starting to reduce their workload (and liability) by requiring more shop drawings, although most were by subcontractors, but much of this was mitigated by their easy pigeonholing of all the work into the 16 CSI categories.

[Allan Edwards]

Originally Posted by Dick Seibert

Didn't know and didn't want to know.

Ok. I want to know asap. I think there is benefit in knowing immediately.

What if someone overbilled you. Or if you mistakenly paid the same invoice twice. You want to find out from your CPA several months after the job is completed?

I certainly hear you about technology but overall it seems to me that when properly applied, technology can make you extremely productive. Fixed budgets and PO’s where costs cannot exceed your predetermined amounts are but one example. Surely you believe that cell phones, email, computers, job costing, Blackberry’s, I-Phones etc add to the productivity of a company.

Back to Twitter, my very initial, uneducated reaction regarding the benefits is does sending bits of information out to various people about events on the ground justify the effort and time. I would like to hear other opinions and real world examples.

[Allan Edwards]

Originally Posted by Dick Seibert

At what point do you think a one-man contractor can get to volume-wise without any nonproductive staff?

Tip for the day:

Do not hire nonproductive staff.

If you are asking what revenue justifies office or field staff, that depends on many variables. The size, type, and location of jobs and the involvement and function of the owner are obvious things that would justify when to hire others. And you goals for growth.

Big money is made by leveraging, if one wants to remain a one person operation they can do well but you are obviously limited in your growth.