140Char

It appears that Tesco-owned U.S food chain Fresh & Easy has a twitter profile (as reported by Brand Republic).

Aside from the fact it might stop brands using & in their name to enable them to register on new sites more easily, it also shows Twitter is gaining more and more validity as a customer service and communication channel.

As the Brand Republic article notes – it’s interesting that U.S. mainstream companies are starting to jump on Twitter, but UK firms are being pretty reluctant – Tesco doesn’t have an account for example.

And yet:

‘UK Internet visits to www.twitter.com have increased by 631% over the last 12 months, with 485% of that growth coming this year. Twitter is more popular with Brits than Americans: last week the site’s share of UK Internet visits was 70% higher its share of visits in America.’ (From Robin Goad at Hitwise).

So why are UK firms (that aren’t in the tech space) more reluctant to jump on Twitter than their U.S counterparts? Anyone got any suggestions?