The "Twitter Business Center" has been quietly rolled out to a handful of accounts with a planned expansion to more and more business accounts. Screen shots obtained by Mashable show Twitter will allow businesses the following features:
1. Customized content on business profile page.
2. "Verified Account" badge added to profiles for enhanced credibility.
3. "Extra preferences to help you better reach your customers."
4. Add Contributors so multiple people can Tweet on the business account.
The most significant feature in this new service offering is the "Verified Account" badge allowing businesses to enhance their authenticity and get past much of the social media noise. Using the "Preferences" section allows you to quickly verify your account with Twitter proclaiming "Verified Account. Success! A verified account badge appears on your profile."
By giving businesses the ability to respond to direct messages from any of their followers obviously improves the Twitter customer service channel. This improved responsiveness will bring more businesses closer to opening up Twitter as an effective customer service and support channel. No longer will businesses have to follow their customers to respond back to them.
Whether or not Twitter can successfully monetize the business vertical remains to be seen. While all of these features are surely worth paying for, business will only really pay if Twitter can help turn "followers" into customers.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
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