With the mass influx of businesses onto the social media platform, providers don’t really have the option to ignore it.  Facebook has ‘Business Pages, LinkedIn has company profiles, and so on.

So what’s Twitter’s response to its competitors? (In 140 characters or less)

The Twitter Business Center

I’ll be the first to say, “It’s about time!”  I’ll also say it’s a respectable offering to all the loyal Tweeters out there.

At this time Twitter is in a beta testing period, and will only be offering access to the Business Center to a select few. However, as testing continues they will extend the invitation further.  For those of us who haven’t been fortunate enough to get the fancy invite, here is what you can expect if everything goes according to plan.

Account verification will be given to all business centers members. This will eliminate impostors and increase trust in your followers when they know it’s really you.  And, you don’t have to jump through a million hoops to get verified. Fill out a simple form, and presto, your legit.

Multiple Contributor controls will be included in the new center. This gives the ability to add multiple users to a single account to allow each user to tweet on behalf of the business.  This one has been around for a few months, but it’s a nifty tool to add to the kit.

Direct Messages can be sent by any of your followers.  You’ll no longer have to follow someone back to enable this function.  HUGE. But honestly, this could be huge in a few ways. Hugely annoying for those of you with a big list, trying to remain private.  Hugely awesome for those of you who are just getting started and want to connect with your followers.

All in all this is a Business Center that many of you would benefit from having access to.  I’m still curious to see how the Business Center will look once it comes out of beta testing.

If and when you get an invite to the new Business Center, how will you put it to use? Comment below and let me know…