Businesses jump on social media bandwagon

For two hours one morning last week, an ordinary-looking classroom on the third floor of a building in Melville was transformed into a Twitter zone.

To some, it was a Twilight Zone.

They preferred to remain anonymous, embarrassed by letting a slice of the 21st century get by them. So our question was, Why should we care?

Peter Iuvara, sales director at mindSHIFT, a Waltham, Mass.-based tech company with an office in Commack, gave us some reasons: According to research by the website mashable.com, 57 percent of those polled talk more online than in real life. And, mashable said, 43 percent feel "less inhibited" talking online. (We're in the minority when it comes to any of this.)

Nonetheless, Iuvara said, tweeting is important for business people because everyone seems to be doing it. Another organizer, Arthur Germain, principal and "chief brandteller" of East Northport-based Communication Strategy Group, said tweeting provides you with "a community of people to talk to."

Nicole Larrauri, managing partner of The EGC Group, an advertising agency in Melville, said her company is heavily involved these days in "listening software," which makes it possible to detect business activity and the demand for products in different parts of the world. It all points to the importance of social media, Larrauri said.

Harvey Brofman, president of Holbrook-based Integrated Tactics, a consulting company for the pharmaceutical industry, tweets. But many in Big Pharma, he said, do not. It's just not in their DNA, Brofman said. But he came anyway. "Every time you have conversations about technology you learn something," he said.

The event was sponsored by LISTnet.