Cone just released its 2008 Cone Business in Social Media Study showing that almost 60 percent of Americans interact with companies on a social media web site, and one in four interact more than once per week.

According to the survey, 93 percent of Americans believe a company should have a presence in social media, while an overwhelming 85 percent believe a company should not only be present but also interact with its consumers via social media. In fact, 56 percent of American consumers feel both a stronger connection with and better served by companies when they can interact with them in a social media environment.

When asked about specific types of interactions, Americans believe:

• - Companies should use social networks to solve my problems (43%)
• - Companies should solicit feedback on their products and services (41%)
• - Companies should develop new ways for consumers to interact with their brand (37%)
• - Companies should market to consumers (25%)

Read more…

Dennis Howlett presents StatusHQ, another Twitter clone focusing, this time, the Enterprise. With a number a differences as compared to the original most famous Twitter:

• - it offers authenticated RSS
• - it removes the 140 character limit, instead it imposes a limit of 255 characters
• - individuals can create up to 10 private groups on their own account but can be invited to any number of groups
• - while Twitter asks:What are you doing, StatusHQ asks two questions: What are you doing? and Where are you?
• - you can update via SMS
• - the service allows you to delete messages

Let’s wait and see what companies pick up the microblogging trend first!

Via ZDNet.