SmallBusinessNewz

Twitter's frequently been sold to small business owners as a nice "extra" - an easy way to extend their current advertising or recruiting efforts.  It turns out, though, that Twitter might be able to carry a lot more weight than we thought.

The communications company known as O2 surveyed 500 small businesses and found that 17 percent of them are using Twitter.  So keep in mind that the following stats are based on the experiences of just 85 or so companies.

But O2 stated in a press release, "Cost cutting was cited as one of the greatest benefits of Twitter by nearly two thirds (62 per cent) of the small businesses questioned.  Using Twitter for marketing and to recruit new staff was among the most common ways to reduce overheads, with over one in ten (16 per cent) revealing they had been able to save up to £5,000 since signing up to the service.  Nearly a third have saved up to £1,000."

So, even though the "up to" phrasing makes those numbers a little vague, it's clear that Twitter has helped some companies save quite a bit of money.  Add in the intangible benefits - staying visible to customers, keeping up with competitors - and it's getting hard to imagine why a business wouldn't use Twitter.

Simon Devonshire, O2's Head of Small Business Marketing, stated, "The way small businesses are using Twitter is a great example of how the community is embracing new technologies in order to adapt and survive in the current economic climate."