Forget the Twitpitch; How About Twitgotiations?

Sometimes just watching Twitter on a Friday afternoon, you'll see one more way people are using the service to facilitate their everyday activities. Some people use Twitter for conversation, some for pitches, some for resume solicitation, and others for, well, Twitgotiating.

After Nicholas Tolson of Erickson Barnett sent a Tweet about his experience with Radian6, he got several new followers, most of whom were Radian6 staff. Like most companies, they probably have alerts set for mentions of their company. However, any smart company also has alerts set for mentions, and his 300th follower was Bob Pease (@bobbo0521), who works for Techrigy, one of Radian6's competitors.

What followed was an hilarious exchange, with several Techrigy employees adding Tolson, as well as Aaron Newman, Techrigy CEO, upgrading Tolson's account so he could evaluate the pros and cons of both companies' services. He also freely mentioned other competitors, including BuzzMetrics, Buzzlogic, and Cymfony.

His Twitgotiating may not have netted him more than an upgraded Techrigy account to see what's happening, but as Tolson noted, Twitter is all about making connections. It looks like a simple Twitter exchange all in good fun, but the reality is that he discovered Techrigy, a company he didn't know existed until Pease started following him. Aaron Newman and the rest of his Techrigy staff probably gained several followers, and Techrigy got some more attention as well. He also demonstrated that, rather than be afraid of the competition, he knows it well, knows what companies he considers Techrigy to be on par with, and isn't afraid to mention them to potential customers, which says a lot about how confident he is that customers will prefer Techrigy if they give it a chance.

While for many, Twitter is just a fun social network, companies are using for everything from recruiting to customer relations. We know that companies like Comcast are monitoring the service for complaints, but there are even more who are actively engaging potential customers (like Zappos). It's a savvy move, and one that Twitter could probably promote (as well as provide extra features for companies who would probably pay for the service).