Innovation That Matters

Package tracking via Twitter

Work & Lifestyle

Some 6 million people visit Twitter each month, so it’s no wonder applications for the platform are coming fast and furious. Not only can consumers use Twitter to track their favourite taco truck, file civic complaints and apply for jobs, but they can now track their packages as well thanks to a new application from North Carolina-based Signal Engine. Users with packages to track begin by following PackageTrack on Twitter (@packagetrack), causing the free application to follow them in return. They can then direct message PackageTrack with the nickname of a package they’d like to track along with its tracking number, separated by a colon—”Red Dress: 23345631243,” for example. PackageTrack then notifies them by Twitter each time the package’s status changes, including a Google Map illustrating its route. Launched earlier this year, PackageTrack currently tracks only UPS, USPS and FedEx packages, but it says it will be adding more carriers soon. All the world may have once been a stage, but today one might say it’s a microblogging platform; no longer merely players, all the men and women now tweet and follow. What is *your* brand doing to reach customers on Twitter…? (Related: Helping consumers track shipped packages.) Spotted by: Roberta Steinberg

Email: contact@signalengine.com

Website: www.packagetrackapp.com