So the weather here on Cape Cod has been abysmal all day, so I figured this would be a great opportunity to, what else, look through our twitter @replies and see if there is anything that can be learned from them. There are basically two groups of people we get @replies from: our moms, wives, girlfriends, and other friends and family. Then there are the "others." It's the others that are really interesting.
The first interaction I want to look at is one with @DunkinDonuts from the other day. After I tweeted a tweet (is that the proper way to say that?) about DD using a stryofoam cup to insulate my plastic cup on an iced coffee I ordered the other day, I got an almost immediate tweet back from DD. I was able to learn that, as a company, Dunkin Donuts doesn't support "double cupping." While this is good to know, the bigger issue is why this multi-national company is still using styrofoam in the first place! There are literally hundreds of alternatives to stryrofoam cups, and DD needs to seriously make a change. A followup tweet from someone at Dunkin says they are actively researching alternatives. Good to know, but I'm skeptical of seeing real progress here. Dunkin Donuts, please prove me wrong.
The second interaction I want to look at is one that will directly impact our business. We sent out a twitter poll the other day inquiring about which e-commerce solution people use. We got several responses from users. In addition, two e-commerce companies actually reached out to us. Network Solutions and 3dCart tweeted US about their products. Really amazing that twitter is being used as a sales tool. There is a third company, Shopify, that is in the mix as well. While we will give all three a thorough look, I must admit the scale is tipped towards Network Solutions and 3dCart. Reaching out really does make a difference, and Twitter enabled them to do that quickly and effectively. When we do make a decision, we'll be sure to blog about why.
Finally, it's great to be involved with Twitter as the medium continues to evolve as an effective means of business communication and development.
P.S. This is the second time I wrote this blog. The first time was on my iPhone, and it somehow got lost on the interweb. I think the first version was slightly better, but hey, that's technology. Win some & lose some.
First - off, I would like to see the auther do a little bit more homework before going off of the deep on foam products, not "Styrofoam" (Styrofoam is a brand name like "Kleenex" is for face tissues).
ReplyDeleteFoam cups and containers for use in the food and beverage industry are one of the greenest products in the market today. Looking at this from a cradle-to-grave standpoint clearly will show this.
Paper cups and containers are lined with a plastic. This plastic does not allow these products to biodegrade, or even be recycled. In fact, no company I have heard of will take a paper cup, like the onese that Starbucks uses because it is nearly impossible to separate the plastic from the paper to recycle.
It takes 1/3 the amount of energy to produce a foam cup than it does a paper cup.
Foam cups are made up of 95% air, which means there is 50% less material going into a foam cup than a paper cup. But even more astounding, is foam cups produce 79% less solid waste than comparable sized paper cups.
Next, foam cups are recyclable. In the west coast, some communities have adopted curb side recycling programs for expanded polystyrene. In others such as Toronto, Canada, they are investigating programs for users to recycle foam products.
Lastly, you have to look at the economical standpoint of foam products vs. paper products. a 16 oz foam cup will cost less than half as much than a paper cup. If I were in the foodservice industry, my bottom line would be pretty important.
ENVIRONMENT, COST, and INSULATION PROPERTIES of foam vs. paper? I choose foam every time.
Thanks for shedding some light on the topic. Perhaps you're correct and we (and the public in general) need to be a bit more educated on the foam vs. paper debate.
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