Taking digital media to new heights

Have you guys seen this? Billboards around the area connected to Twitter accounts? Talk about a new height in advertising.

Clear Channel Outdoors which rents out digital billboards for advertising has entered a new realm by hooking those boards up to Twitter, the social networking site that plays host to many businesses. People keep in touch by sending out 140 - character "tweets" on their status.

Clear Channel Outdoors has figured out how to instantly send those tweets to the ad boards, which update in real time. Even if you send those tweets from your BlackBerry.
They're already doing themselves - although the updates are pretty generic, limited to happenings in the local area.

But they are showing businesses the potential: set up a free Twitter account, and reach more people than by billboard alone. The possibilities are endless here. Potential customers see the update board, log on to Twitter and follow said business.

I must admit, I'm intrigued. Who knows where this can go? It's essentially taking marketing coverage boundaries and erasing the lines. And while I'm excited about this prospect, I am more excited about what it could lead to, and what it could mean for local businesses. In these days when marketing dollars are scarce and deficits are many, we need all the reach we can get.