Posted by BEN BEAUMONT – Internet social networking expert Barry Wellman’s Tuesday lecture was timed perfectly with a New York Times article on the rise of Twitter, the micro-blogging site that allows users to post comments of up to 140 characters for “followers” to read and respond. The Twitter rage has made its way to the Clinton School with a number of students, faculty, staff and even the Dean “tweeting” regularly. The Times finds that Twitter has become “surprisingly useful” for a number of things:
By tapping into the world’s collective brain, researchers of all kinds have found that if they make the effort to dig through the mundane comments, the live conversations offer an early glimpse into public sentiment — and even help them shape it.
Companies like Starbucks, Whole Foods and Dell can see what their customers are thinking as they use a product, and the companies can adapt their marketing accordingly.
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