This Christmas, all you needed to enter for a chance to win with LIME was 140 characters or less.

Twitter is one of the fastest growing channels on the fastest growing area of traffic on the Internet, social media.

The increasingly popular portal has been a vital tool for US President, Barack Obama, during his 2008 and 2012 runs to the White House. In 2012, His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI joined Twitter and got hundreds of thousands of followers even before sending a single tweet. In the Caribbean, Twitter is gaining ground through applications for desktop computers and mobile devices, especially smartphones and BlackBerry handsets.

The Caribbean’s leading technology company, LIME, has recognised the high volume of usage with a Twitter-specific component in its 2012 Christmas campaign. As a result, six LIME customers are entering 2013 with some cool gifts.

Hundreds of Twitter users from around the Caribbean entered the Christmas promotion, where LIME followers were asked to use the hashtag #LIMEMerryMoments to share their special memories of Christmas through the years. Winners came from Jamaica, Saint Lucia, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands and Grenada.

Saint Lucia’s winners came from Augier, Vieux Fort, Laborie, La Clery, central Castries, San Souci and Micoud. They shared moments  including the birth of a daughter, waking up in the middle of the night to enjoy Christmas ham, spending time with family, going from house to house and hitting the beach with friends.

As 2012 wound down, Bradley Larcher, Learie St Rose, Rebecca Paul, Verrena McFarlane, Natalya Charlery and Dwight Thomas picked up prizes including Apple iPod Nano music players, Monster Beats By Dre Solo HD headphones and Google Nexus 7 tablet computers.

“I’m listening to my favorite songs on my new Apple iPod Nano,” tweeted Verrena. “Thanks to @LIME_StLucia!” “I think it’s really cool that LIME is doing something special just for Twitter users,” adds Learie. “You guys made a lot of customers happy just from topping up, talking or paying their bills in full and on time and this Christmas, it was nice to see you rewarding some of us who just give you regular feedback on the social networks. Thanks, LIME!”

“Social networking is important to our customers, so it’s important to us,” says Laurencia Cadette, Head of Marketing and Communications at LIME Saint Lucia. “Over the past 18 months, we’ve used our Facebook page and Twitter to let customers know about ongoing promotions, products and services, to do giveaways and to get feedback from the people who use our services. But we’ve also used social media as a customer service tool, in collaboration with our contact centre. LIME subscribers can get dedicated assistance on Twitter and Facebook, and we’re proud that we can give our customers a wider range of options.”

LIME Saint Lucia is on Twitter as @LIME_StLucia