Send lawyers, guns and Twitter

If ever there were a sign that Twitter has penetrated the business world, Wednesday's meetup (Tweetup if you will) on the 48th floor of the WaMau tower may have been it. After all, nothing spells raw capitalistic opportunity like a bunch of lawyers, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists discussing new ideas.

The first ever Perkins Madrona Twitter Conference -- hosted at the law offices of Perkins Coie and led by Madrona Venture Group's Ayush Agarawal and Paul Goodrich -- was notable in that the business folks even cared enough to discuss the topic of Twitter. But there they were talking, chatting and Tweeting in real time about the business issues facing companies in an age of instant communication and feedback.

In the room, you heard business questions like: "Where's the ROI with Twitter?" There were discussions about whether corporations should institute a Twitter policy, how companies can mine Twitter for pertinent information about their brands and what to do if your company is overwhelmed with negative Tweets.

Representatives from local companies such as Avelle, Alaska Airlines, Smartsheet.com, Nordstrom and Expedia offered advice and feedback on how to utilize Twitter, a fascinating brainstorming session that probably wouldn't have occurred just 12 months ago. And PR guru Colleen Moffitt offered tips on how those companies need to react to issues on Twitter.

"We really want all of our employees to be very social media wise," said Navin Mithel, managing director of eCommerce and CRM at Alaska Airlines, one of the panelists at the event.

Michael Smith, the CEO of Seattle startup Avelle, said that employees need to employ common sense when posting on Twitter. "If you take a polished approach or try to spin things (on Twitter) I think you are dead in this medium," he said.

Some of the most fascinating discussions centered around legal issues, with Perkins' attorneys Susan Lyon and Tom Bell addressing potential potholes that companies and employees may encounter as they venture into the Twittersphere.

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