Outlined below is a 5 step process to evaluate the communication needs of the company and how social media could change or improve the current paradigms. This process is from the perspective of an internal consultant, who has a sound understanding of the companies vision and strategy. (This is a work-in-progress model, so all comments and criticism are welcome.)

1. Based on the vision and strategy, Identify key entities/groups that interact/or should interact with each other ( e.g. prospects, consumers, Sales force, Mkt , Competion, Regulators, Govt.)
2. Define the optimal mode of interaction between those entities (e.g. listening, responding, interaction, broadcast)
3. Identify a communication paradigm that best facilitates the interaction
   

   matching social tools to communication needs

4. Evaluate existing tools on the basis on these paradigms. ( the example below is an evaluation exercise for the career services department at a business school)
   

   Identifying communication needs and areas for improvement

5. Propose changes and new solutions or else congratulate the company on a comprehensive communication strategy!

Once again, this is a work-in-progress model, so all comments and criticism are welcome!

Have you noticed the language being used on twitter ? Just have a look at random posts corporate executives, who presumably are using the most appropriate and decent form of Twitter-English ie. Twinglish :

jeffBooth “shareholder value is the dumbest idea in the world” – Jack Welch. New blog post on why I agree. http://tinyurl.com/cfha22
gweston: There so few companies we trust absolutely? I trust Costco, Southwest Discount Tire? Isn’t “Trust” the best strategy for all businesses?
Padmasree Good article, like the analysis. Prefer gender neutral terms NOT “top young guns and older bulls” Come on @vwadhwa http://j.mp/h2BDi

A few points to note:

• To the point- practical use of language
• No flowery intros. No “good news-bad news-good news” formatting
• Minor grammatical mistakes are OK !
• Bullet point talk is trendy

So here is my point, the 140 char limit is a cultural leveler. First language or not everyone has to fit their thoughts into 140 char. This makes internationals (Europeans, Chinese, Indians), who are in the habit of writing long-winded sentences – cut back . On the other hand it also prevents native English speakers come straight to the content. It does not give them a chance to begin with ” I like the work you have done here . Vere interesting, but can redo the whole thing because ……” . In Twinglish you would have to go  staright ” We will need to redo … because…”

This gives English an engineering approach . I think this is a trend for the better, but you might disagree.