Companies form Twitter alliance

A group of the country`s major companies have banded together to launch a joint promotion campaign and event through Twitter, industry officials said yesterday.

They said nine companies, such as MBC, KT, Korean Air, E-Mart, the Industrial Bank of Korea, Maeil Dairy and Pentech, will be kicking off their joint Twitter campaign today.

The U.S.-based free social networking and microblogging service has been taking off in Korea recently, thanks to its use by world figure skater champion Kim Yu-na, who won the gold medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Twitter`s growing popularity here has thus prompted companies to step up use of the networking site as a marketing medium.

More than 100 companies are estimated to have made a Twitter account and are making active use of the site, industry experts said.

They noted that the so-called "corporate Twitter solidarity" is aimed at enhancing the synergistic effects between the companies and provide diverse benefits to local Twitter users.

Additional companies from other industry fields are expected to join the nine-member corporate Twitter group.

The corporate band also plans to form a joint Twitter portal.

The first of the nine-member group`s events features fixing the first Friday of each month as "Corporate Twitter Day." Today`s event will feature a relay event in one-hour intervals.

Participants can look forward to an array of prize giveaways.

(sohjung@heraldm.com)



By Yoo Soh-jung