With all that equipment comes a lot of employees—more than 60,000 of them worldwide (53,000 of them out of the U.S.)—and a lot of revenue. Next year, United Technologies, the owner of Otis since 1976, expects revenue between $56 billion and $57 billion, a more than 5 percent increase from this year. And of the $11.7 billion Otis generated in 2009, 80 percent of that was made outside of America.

What set Otis apart when it was founded back in 1853 in Yonkers, New York, was its attention to safety in its design. The early Otis elevators were constructed with the ability to lock an elevator car in one position if the ropes that moved it vertically ever suddenly stopped working.

Today, Otis is investing heavily in technology to improve the culture of elevators, escalators and moving sidewalks. One innovation, Compass Destination Management, allows the elevator computers to “figure out” which elevator in a particular bank can get a traveler to the desired floor quickest. Another, EMS Panorama, allows building staffers to control and monitor “up to 64 banks of elevators” from any computer with an Internet connection. (See what you could be doing instead of reading this?)

Still, there are some areas that Otis is still lacking on the technology front, particularly as when it comes to social media.

Twitter

Otis has no presence on Twitter, nor does United Technologies, unless you count @UnitedTechBRK, which promises breaking news about the company but has, apparently, never tweeted a message.

It seems with so many elevators, moving walkways and elevators running worldwide as well as the cameras and computers involved, there could be a relatively easy way to have information automatically being transmitted to a Twitter account about the population riding that day. You can even imagine a cult following being created with images from an Otis-carried camera on the Eiffel Tower or some similar landmark.

Facebook

The first Otis Elevator on Facebook link that appears in Google is simply the Otis Wikipedia entry slapped onto a Facebook page. There are 22 folks who “like” this.

At the second slot is a page created for current and past Otis employees: a whopping 191. But at least there are some images of old Otis logos and elevators as well as commentary on Otis elevator sightings (two of ’em in a hospital in Chile!) and queries on where more are located.

Meanwhile, coming in at No. 3 on the Google list is New Hampshire’s one and only Otis Elevator Band, which specializes in rock covers and does much better in the “like” department with 324. What more do you expect from four guys who are interested in “rocking your face off”?

The company itself appears to not have a Facebook page, which is unfortunate because it again seems that Otis could engage Web visitors with simple polls and “Where’d you see Otis?”-type queries. Otis really misses an opportunity here to get information from elevator, escalator and moving walkway mavens from across the land.

Website

Finally, an area where Otis takes control of creating its own message for the public! The Otis Elevator website (otisworldwide.com) opens with an easy-to-read home page that immediately accentuates the size and breadth of the Otis brand by inclining a small rolling image of different Otis employees from around the globe that has adjoining rolling text that reads, “I am Otis” or “Ik ben Otis” or “Yo soy Otis” or, well… you get the idea.

And if you hadn’t gotten the idea just yet that Otis is a global company, it has a scroll bar on the right that allows users to visit a slew of country-specific Otis websites. As an added bonus, there is a world map below that one can click on to get the same sites.

The Signature Projects story leads to a simple yet fascinating interactive element that allows users to scroll along a horizontal bar of architectural renderings of famous building silhouettes from around the globe to click on and discover how Otis products are integrated into it. For example, Canada’s 1,815-foot National Tower with glass-bottomed elevators to look down at Toronto 113 floors below. Or the ones at the Luxor Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas that move diagonally.

Otis wants site visitors to come away knowing that it places safety and values high on its list of important items. In the About Otis section, the first subgroup is Vision & Values then Service Excellence and Safety for All before Otis History, Otis in the Community, and Otis People. It seems like this company has a very good sense of itself, doesn’t need to razzle dazzle visitors and is confident enough to lead with its values.

Meanwhile, the security area of the site proves fascinating with its explanations of how Otis goes about making sure its escalators and elevators are going to be the safest in the world. Otis, in case you’re keeping score at home, has the world’s tallest elevator test tower in Japan, which rises 505 feet above ground and goes 89 feet below ground. It also has North America’s tallest elevator test tower with is 383 feet high.

Otis makes sure the onus for safety isn’t squarely on the company by providing different sets of tips for consumers on how to safely ride elevators and escalators, such a the following: “Step on and off with caution. Take extra care if you are wearing bifocals.”

While Otis is clearly focused on its end product and satisfying the end consumer, its lack of accessibility on digital products is frustrating for anyone that has something to say good or bad on the subject.

On the other hand, the decision makers who decide whether to put an Otis system into a building or not are not likely making the decision based on tweets on how many people are riding an Otis Elevator in Kuala Lumpur that day. Whether it’s tweeted or not, the world knows that number has got to be high and that Otis, barring catastrophe or machine shutdowns, will do all it can to just keep moving onward and upward.