What is Twitter?

Surely you have heard about something called Twitter. If you are like me, you probably just dismissed it as some new tech thing the kids are using. I just figured out how to use email. I don't have the time or the will to figure out a lot of extra junk.

I first got interested when Mike asked his son about an email he had sent him. His son told him he ignores his email account because it is overwhelmed with junk mail. He now only responds to his trusted friends by using Twitter. Out of 20 - 30 emails I got today, I'm only interested in 2. Maybe this Twitter thing has some value afterall.

How does Twitter work?

Basically, Twitter works like the old pagers. You can open a Twitter account for free. Then you pick how you will get your messages. The messages can be sent to your email or your mobile phone. The messages can not be over 140 characters long. If you choose to send them to your mobile phone, you'll be alerted immediately but you may be charged a SMS messaging charge by your telephone carrier but not by Twitter. Twitter is free. Some people have unlimited messaging, so there would not be an additional charge.

Next choose who you will accept messages from. This is called following. You'll only get messages from people you decide to follow. To follow Scan Furniture House, go to http://twitter.com/Scanfurniture

That's it. Pretty simple.

So why would you want to bother with Twitter?

The kids use it to keep in touch with their close circle of friends. Being kids, they send messages continuously with things like "I went to a movie", "I bought a milkshake", etc. Where us older folks might use it is for major events like vacations or even outcomes of medical procedures.

"Grandpa came through his operation with flying colors"

One simple message and all your friends and family know immediately that Grandpa is ok. Sure beats making 10 or 20 phone calls and repeating yourself over and over again.

How does Scan Furniture House use Twitter?

We often get asked about sales or clearance items. We use twitter to alert our customers the instant we mark something down or put it on sale. To see how following us on Twitter can get the best price and widest selection, consider our first "tweet"

"Reduced price to $49 on 15 rugs with retail $349 and up "

Someone looking for a great deal on a high quality designer area rug would know immediately and get first choice. Unless you visit our store daily, you'd probably miss out completely. You'll never again say "I wish I would have known..."

Why do we use Twitter?

Spam laws have made it difficult for us to send mass emails. We really don't want to bother anyone anyway. A lot of them end up in junk mail because of email filters you may not even remember setting. Twitter allows us to send messages to our friends and loyal customers. Its environmentally sound because we don't have to waste a sheet of paper and envelope to alert you of good deals. If you no longer want our messages, quit following us. Its that simple.

Whats the difference between this and your newsletter?

The newsletter is sent out quarterly. It talks about upcoming events, sales, etc. Twitter is based on spur-of-the-moment decisions like product markdowns, items moved to clearance status, etc.

Click the birdie above to sign up for Twitter. Then follow us at http://twitter.com/Scanfurniture