Social Networking and Business - Can Facebook and Twitter Help a Startup Company Succeed?

June 1, 2009; 09:58 AM

Toronto, ON (Vocus/PRWEB ) June 1, 2009 -- ShipGooder, Inc. today announced that it has officially launched pages on Facebook and Twitter, the social networking websites that are both experiencing explosive growth by leveraging community-based interaction.

The term "Social Networking" has been gaining notoriety over the past few years. As of today, Facebook has over 200 million active users, while Twitter already has 17 million registered users in the U.S., up 3,000 percent from a year ago. Although Facebook and Twitter are primarily focused on individuals rather than corporate entities, both websites offer tremendous advantages for startup companies to bring their message to the masses.

Facebook provides businesses with a page that includes an overview, announcements, photo galleries and discussions. Users on Facebook become "fans" of the business, and are kept up to date on what the company is doing. When an individual becomes a fan, their friends on Facebook are presented with a "fan" notification; the friends then can become fans as well. The viral effect of friends announcing their "fandom" to other friends can lead to hundreds of thousands of followers for a company. The Starbucks coffee company alone currently has close to 1.8 million fans on Facebook.

Twitter is an announcement system, where users post a short message called a "tweet". The tweet can be a simple description of what they are eating, where they are going, website links and photos. Users "follow" other users on Twitter and receive a real-time stream of announcements. As each user follows a new user, they can "tweet" their new following, again creating a viral effect. Companies are using Twitter to post news and announcements, using the medium to promote their marketing messages.

"Facebook and Twitter provide ShipGooder.com with powerful communication channels for our customers, website visitors, and new visitors who may not be aware of the exceptional free services that ShipGooder offers," said Nancy Chafee, VP of Sales and Marketing for ShipGooder, Inc. "We're using both of these services to augment our existing sales and marketing efforts, promoting our brand, and our primary message that ShipGooder.com provides instant shipping rate quotes from FedEx, DHL, the U.S. Postal Service alongside quotes from regional and local courier companies," she added.

"ShipGooder.com is the 'search engine for shipping rates', offering its services free of charge, with no advertising and no visitor registration required," said Franc Vodopivec, President of ShipGooder, Inc. "Our proprietary Rapid Rate Search system allows smaller couriers and messengers to compete directly with large national carriers, and we're going to continue to promote this message through the mediums that prove to be the most effective," he added.

ShipGooder has used Facebook and Twitter to announce their new Courier Directory of carriers from across the U.S. and Canada, as well as announcing the recent addition of international rate quotes. Can social networking help achieve success to an innovative startup? The question was best answered by Nancy Chafee, who stated, "Word of mouth about ShipGooder is our most powerful promotional vehicle. We are delighted that 'word of mouth' is evolving into new, creative and exciting mediums."

About ShipGooder, Inc.
Toronto-based ShipGooder, Inc. was founded in October 2006 and developed a multi-carrier rate engine that allows users to quickly compare services from national, regional and local couriers in the U.S. and Canada. ShipGooder.com provides an easy, fast rate engine to obtain the best shipping rates.

For more information and additional media resources, please contact:
Nancy Chafee, V.P. Sales and Marketing
(416) 930-3043
www.shipgooder.com