What will the BBC use their Twitter account for?

Last month I uncovered how the Twitter username ‘BBC’ was fooling people into believe it was an official BBC News feed when in actual fact it was being run by a third party. This wasn’t really a problem until they insulted someone who believed they were contacting the BBC via the account. You can read the full story of what happened and how the BBC gained control of the account here.

Now the BBC is trying to decide what to do with the account. My suggestion? Rather than just have it as a news feed they should use it as a form of interactive online presence that can speak for the whole corporation. As many Twitter users will attest, lots of brands have active Twitter presences that contact users who make their problems known. When they do it right brands who are active on Twitter can improve their word-of-mouth reputation through being able to troubleshoot customers’ problems before they escalate.

The problem the BBC would have with this is that unlike most other brands, practically everyone in the UK is their customer. Whether it’s TV, radio or the internet everyone has some kind of contact with the BBC’s output. There’s no way one person sat at a computer running a Twitter account all day could properly answer every single problem with, or comment about, the BBC. That said, having someone operating an active online voice for the BBC would be massively beneficial to the corporation.

The BBC has had its fair share of controversy in recent months. It takes time for the official BBC response to a big story to be communicated via traditional news channels. The real-time chatter and instant news available on services such as Twitter has led people to begin to expect prompt official statements. I noted a distinct frustration amongst Twitter users over the amount of time it took for official news to be announced after the plane crash in Amsterdam this morning, for example. The ‘BBC’ account on Twitter could be the official presence that people look to when the BBC becomes involved in a big story.

Will they use it that way? Only time will tell but to use it as nothing more than a news service would be a real shame.