Top 10 Uses of Twitter
Leave it to Springwise to find some of the coolest uses of Twitter. Here's a top ten collection of my favorites:
1) Baker Tweet - Everyone knows that baked goods tend to be best when fresh from the oven; the challenge for bakery customers is predicting when that might be. New technology from London agency Poke now removes the guesswork, however, by enabling bakeries to alert their customers via Twitter any time a new batch is done.
2) Coolhaus - There's a new truck roaming the streets of LA—just in time for summer—and it's being followed by legions of devotees who track its whereabouts via Twitter. Coolhaus sells handmade ice cream sandwiches from a pink and chrome converted postal jeep.
3) Package Track - Users with packages to track begin by following PackageTrack on Twitter (@packagetrack), causing the free application to follow them in return. They can then direct message PackageTrack with the nickname of a package they'd like to track along with its tracking number, separated by a colon—"Red Dress: 23345631243," for example. PackageTrack then notifies them by Twitter each time the package's status changes, including a Google Map illustrating its route.
4) Kogi Korean BBQ - Launched last fall, Kogi Korean BBQ takes the taste of Korean barbecue and melds it with the portability of Mexican tacos and burritos for a whole new category of delectable food. Kogi sells its food primarily through two trucks that are always on the go to new locations in the Los Angeles area—to know where to find them, customers must follow Kogi on Twitter (and more than 7,000 already do).
5) Townhouse Hotel Maastricht - Guests at a new Maastricht hotel won't have to leave their Twitter stream if they're feeling peckish—they can just tweet their requests to the front desk, @townhousehotels. The hotel serves breakfast, soup and light snacks for guests who are unwilling to make their way to one of the city's many restaurants.
6) Energize - Utrecht-based Energize has designed an application form that looks exactly like a page on Twitter, including an empty text field. Candidates enter a short message describing why they're the person for the job, plus their email address and Twitter username. The process highlights that Energize is looking for people who actively use social media. More importantly, by forcing them to be both engaging and succinct, it's the perfect way to test a candidate's writing skills.
7) Radaroo - Radaroo is a free service that lets users send a tweet to create a dating profile in 140 characters or less. Users sign up by sending a tweet to @radaroo, specifying their gender, the gender(s) they’re interested in, and which activities they’d like to participate in on a first date. People can find out if a fellow Twitterer is single by searching that person’s username, and can also search for all single members in their area by entering their zip code, or country code if outside the United States.
8) SF 311 - 24x7 Customer Service Center - San Francisco residents can now send messages to the city government via Twitter by directing them to @SF311. Customer service representatives are available 24/7, 365 days a year, for help with such matters as the need for street cleaning, graffiti removal, potholes, abandoned vehicles and garbage can maintenance. Users follow SF311, which will automatically result in a reciprocal follow connection. Photos and links to illustrate the subjects of complaint are encouraged, and the city also plans to send updates about planned and unplanned local events using the platform.
9) Twitter Taste Live - BinEnds, a Massachusetts-based retailer of off-price wines, is hosting wine tastings with Twitter Taste Live. Users order the wines being tasted from Bin Ends three weeks prior to the event, follow @binendswine on the service, and then join the event as it takes place. They can comment, ask questions and interact with the winemakers in real time. Tastings take place the third Thursday of every month at 7 p.m. Eastern U.S. time, and are announced on Twitter, Facebook and Bin Ends' own website.
10) Yello Strom - German utility company Yello Strom is now keeping its customers informed by enabling meters to tweet about energy use. Each "Yello Sparzähler" smart meter is allocated its own Twitter account, which is automatically updated with energy consumption data. The owner can follow the account to receive regular updates, leading to greater awareness and hopefully lower energy use.
