I inquired the other day about why The Planet uses Twitter to distribute information to its clients. I received the following response:
That seemed fairly legitimate, so I began to follow @ThePlanet with mobile device updates set to on. I did this in the hopes of getting an SMS for each tweet that is made about service oriented topics that The Planet shares about network updates and other service related topics. I was surprised to see non-service related tweets like the these:
http://twitter.com/ThePlanet/status/3252558234
http://twitter.com/ThePlanet/status/3252558234
http://twitter.com/ThePlanet/status/3059613621
http://twitter.com/ThePlanet/status/3059613621
etc

I would like to suggest that The Planet consider reserving tweets from The Planet for topics that affect our service, plus their blog posts, and even sales deals. Maybe another Twitter account could be setup for off-topic tweets. I'd still follow that one, but wouldn't set it up to send an SMS to my mobile device.

How do the rest of you follow The Planet on Twitter? Would a second Twitter account be helpful to you?

Our current vision for the Twitter account is to become a part of the conversation ... service-related or not. We've circled around the idea of creating something service-specific, but a presence like that doesn't take advantage of the dynamic nature of the medium nor the value in communicating with customers rather than communicating at customers.

Initially, we were hesitant to even create a corporate Twitter account with the fears of scattering the message - one more thing to be responsible for and accountable to - but we're working out how it can benefit us and our customers in good times and bad. That being said, nothing is set in stone (nor can it really be in the world of Social Media), and we're constantly trying to figure out the "how" of best leveraging the tools available, so it's not out of the question for us to establish a channel like the one you described as we move forward.

In the interim, if you want updates exclusively about service-related issues, the system and network status page here on the forums is the best place to subscribe and keep an eye on.