Construction Industry Slow to Adopt Twitter

I was speaking with the CFO of a highway heavy contractor recently and he thought that Twitter was a waste of time. Of course this gentleman was over 50 and thought that tweets were just going to be more spam being delivered to his phone or email. Isn’t this the conception you have of Twitter?

There are 8 Things You Need to Know About Twitter and Business according to John Mancini, president of AIIM International.   Twitter is more than instant messaging because it has a world wide reach.  You need to keep your business purpose in mind and understand the use of hashtags when using this web 2.0 tool.  There are some contracting firms getting their feet wet, and using a twitter account like Leobuild that posts press releases and some news in hopes of driving traffic to the Leopardo website.  So while I haven’t found a construction firm hugging the tweetdeck wholeheartedly, but how ’bout an A/E firm?

HOK, a prominent architectural firm launched HOK life last year using blogs, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and more. It’s more about extending the conversatation. They tweet about HOK media coverage, employee’s accomplishments, project stories, publications, new hires and more. They are branding their firm as “the best firm to work for” and a place where new technology is embraced.  They build links between tweets & blogs, pulling you into the conversation and encouraging discussions, improving relationships and personalizing their firm.   Their employees use these tools during work hours, their purpose is clear and their company rules are few.  Do you think they have talent chasing them?

Twitter is just one of the web 2.0 tools out there that is underutilized by the construction industry.  In my efforts to educate contractors I use Twitter and LinkedIn to announce seminars and other events including an upcoming  Lunch N’ Learn entitled, “Twitter, LinkedIn and Social Networking/Social Media in the Construction Industry”  at the American Subcontractors Association office in Phoenix on August 18th.

Are you interested but can’t attend in person?  There will be a webinar announced in the near future.  I’d also be interested in contracting firms that are using web 2.0 tools extensively in the USA.  I welcome the comments.