he follows so many people because he thinks of Twitter as the new phone company

Brands have to be more than just faceless organizations online. They need to offer value added content about their brand/industry/sector.

Each brand can represent more than its product or service. It represents a whole industry and related content attached to that industry.

the fact that users are texting more substantive observations and opinions in real time, and the company has a valuable information database it can sell to businesses

"We can measure the tweets," he says. "We're trying to figure out what are the appropriate metrics around engagement and how to convey those."