Corporate Twitters Worth Following - And Some You Should Avoid

By now, we know that Twitter (which we hear has not closed its latest funding round, contrary to other reports) isn't just for navel-gazers talking about their lunch. Hundreds (thousands?) of companies are also using Twitter to talk to customers and to talk about their businesses. Some are doing a much better job at it than others.

(Hey, us too! You can find us on Twitter at @alleyinsider, or follow our article feed at @alleyfeed.)

Interesting

@comcastcares. Comcast (CMCSA) has already gotten a lot of attention for its Twitter activity, and it's well deserved. Staffer Frank Eliason has sent 3,300 updates to subscribers, potential subscribers, former subscribers, and anyone else uttering the word "Comcast." And while the open nature of all this conveniently helps polish Comcast's image, we think what Frank's doing is helpful.

@zappos. Online shoe store CEO Tony Hsieh tweets like a real person, complaining about the incompetent TSA (go Tony!) and talking about how he got Bill Gates, the guy who paid him $265 million for LinkExchange, to model bunny ears in a photo with him. (Amazing!) He occasionally mixes in business, too.

@jetblue. Some promo-y stuff here, but also helpful stuff from the folks at JetBlue (JBLU), who have 2,300 followers. Particularly nice: Weather alerts, and answering questions about baggage policy. And giveaways are cool. Southwest's (LUV) @southwestair is solid, too.

Less Inspired

@digg. Digg mostly talks about Digg, including new features, events, etc. Which is good -- just nothing special.

@yahoo. Seems like they tried to use it to share weird news for a while, and then stopped in January. Perhaps their Twitter guy got nervous when Microsoft came calling.

@delloutlet. Coupons, promotional messages, etc.

Hundreds more, like @37signals, @hrblock, @carnivalcruise, etc.

Deadbeats

@google, @apple, @verizon, @microsoft, @aol, @bestbuy, @netflix, @viacom, @timewarner, @cocacola, @pepsi, @tacobell. Some of these seem to be "owned" by the companies, like Google's (GOOG). Some are clearly not, like @netflix, which is "for sale" by a guy named Tom, who's also sitting on @usatoday and @yelp. "Twitter has a policy of giving the names over to Copywright (sic) holders," he tells us by email, "as I found out when Gamespot took back it's (sic) name from me.. I got a t-shirt out of it :)"

Do you have favorites? Are we missing some gems? Chat us up in the comments below, drop a line to tips@alleyinsider.com, or use our anonymous tip box.

See Also:
Why Can't Twitter Scale? Blaine Cook Tries To Explain
40-Something Digerati Finally Throw In Towel, Join Twitter
Sex Workers Turned To Twitter, iPhones, Tumblr During Spitzer Scandal