Twitter helping firms to cut costs

More than 700,000 businesses are saving costs usually spent on marketing, networking and recruitment by using the social networking site Twitter.

A survey by communications giant O2 revealed yesterday that more than one in 10 (16%) businesses have saved up to £5,000 each in reduced communications or promotion costs since ‘tweeting’ on the service. Nearly one-third had saved up to £1,000.

Nearly three-quarters (74%) of the 500 small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) interviewed said they are using Twitter to market and promote their business, while nearly half (42%) are tweeting to stay in touch with customers and suppliers.

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Simon Devonshire, head of small business marketing at O2, said: “The way small businesses are using Twitter is a great example of how the community is embracing new technologies to adapt and survive in the current economic climate.”

They survey estimated 17% of SMEs in the UK are using the free site to send three million ‘tweets’ or messages a day.