I’m in the Twitter fanclub. It’s easy when the way we communicate is surpassing print media and tip-toeing past television… but for now, many of us get our news and info via social media. I discovered the Michael Jackson tragedy via Twitter. I stay informed by following local news outlets, journalists and other notables. We share this information with those around us, we build a network, we instantly communicate.It makes perfect sense to me, and unfortunately the “What are you doing?” tagline just barely scratches the surface of uses for the true fans. It’s about informing, sharing and building relationships… not just a “waiting in line at Starbucks” update every now and then.

The example above breaks many of my personal Twitter rules. First, it smells a lot like Spam.

This is probably one of my (and 98% of the world’s) biggest online pet peeves. Do not say the same thing over and over again. If it is your goal to follow thousands of people hoping for a reciprocal follow and your only updates are “Try my free e-book! http://blahblahblah.com” – no one is going to follow you back. At least not anyone that’s actually going to care about your message.If a tree fails in a secluded forest and no one is around, does it really make a noise? The same goes for your message. Quality is always better than quantity.

There are many websites out there that boast they can get you hundreds or thousands of follows. And yes, they probably will inflate your follower count, but what good will it do you if they’re not listening?

Some are free and some ask for money so you can become a “VIP” and get even more. But think about it… what good will it do you to have a bunch of people that signed up for this for the same reason you did? Most tweeps that use these tactics are only in it for some sort of personal or financial gain and are just hoping for more people to download that e-book or go to their website. These aren’t the type of followers that will interact with you or be of value to your product or purpose.If you want a bunch of followers in a few days then you’re probably on Twitter for the wrong reasons (remember that whole relaionship building thing?).For a genuine audience:

I understand that some days you may not have anything interesting to talk about or share… and that’s completely alright! Just don’t ruin that nice silence with a boring update that your followers will feel that they wasted 7 seconds of their day reading. Don’t feel obligated to make 5 updates a day or even 5 in a week if you don’t have anything of value to talk about.

Another thing that I see that urks me are batches of tweets. I dislike it when my Tweetdeck suddenly bursts five tweets from the same person because they’ve scheduled them. This goes against my next point of trying to remain human.

Your followers will appreciate you more if you’re sparse and informative than frequent and most boring.

I’m less likely to follow someone with the googley-eyed brown avatar. I immediately interpret that as someone that doesn’t really care very much about being on Twitter. I generally check out every person that follows me to see if I want to reciprocate… This is always a big turn off.Secondly, make sure you have some sort of bio or info about you or why you’re tweeting. Leaving the bio section blank makes people think you’re a bot. Combine that with the default picture and you have no human characteristics whatsoever.Finally, don’t be afraid to show some personality (for those tweeting for business). Customers like to know that there’s a person behind the brand.

Just like anything else, you’re going to have to give a little to get back. If you expect people to click on your links, retweet you, reply, and even follow you… realize that they’re probably not going to do any of these until you make the first move!

Twitter reminds me of dating in middle school – most are scared to make the first move, self-conscious and scared of being judged. So, if you want things to happen you’ll have to buck up and move in for the kiss (or tweet). Remember, you’re following someone because you find them moderately interesting, so why not share something they posted by retweeting (simly put a RT before their name and message). If you’re lucky they’ll send you a quick thanks and maybe reciprocate down the road. And look! You’ve made a friend, not just a follower!

If you continuously throw links and self-promotion at your followers, they’re probably not going to want to help you out.

web design nashville

Apart from having Ezines and WordPress automatically feed Twitter, there are various ways you can focus on giving to others with it. I have created a list of 5 things that give you the satisfaction of sharing with others useful information on Twitter, instead of rambling on about how “ticked off I am that it is raining”-useless information! I am not condemning fun on Twitter. However if you are following 10 people, and one of them just focuses on personal expressions like the one above, chances are you expect their future tweets less worthwhile.1.    Offer a Free ReportTo do this you will need a File-Transfer-Protocol so you can upload a PDF of something you want to share. Sometimes you will find it already online, in which case you can just give the link through twitter.2.    Give people news/link to something you found that was particularly helpful to you.    I recently added names like Timothy Ferriss and Steve Pavlina. These guys do this all the time. They will link to a website that helped them or complements the content on their blog.3.    Promote your blog. Of course this is being generous. You just want to hone in on Twitter WIIFM (What’s In It For Me?). Put your topic in a broad light and post it on Twitter with a URL. Twitter allows you to “mini-blog,” which means you can explore a slightly different title through it to attract visitors to your site.4.    YouTubeThis one is a no brainer. Video information is being transferred between people at an alarmingly high rate. A website that does not have some kind of movies is being ignorant of a high percentage of its visitors who may not want to read pages and pages of information.5.    Announce your presenceMaking face on through various events is important. Don’t be a faceless blogger who never shows up in public. Create free speaking events or just an event for coffee reserved for your readers. I understand websites and blogs are global, however there could be people who are in town and would like to meet you.And that’s it really. What you want to do is create anticipation from your follows so that you keep going back for more updates. Live for something!

Have you heard of Twitter? It seems like there are new ways to promote your business online and Twitter is a very good one. It is one of these cool social network ways of staying in touch with people.
In this article let’s talk about 6 ways you can easily use Twitter to make friends and more money!
1. First and foremost Twitter is a great way to stay connected with people who are following you and who you are following. You do this by posting short messages called “tweets.
This has become known as micro blogging because you are limited to 140 characters in your messages. The key is to build up a large list of followers. You can do this at various sites like Twellow.com and then start following people who have similar interests to yours.
2. Make yourself stand out by offering things that are unique. I like to offer updates about what I am blogging on. Avoid selling all of the time and offer useful content and your followers will appreciate it.
3. You have to get your Twitter link out where people can find you. This means adding it to your email sig file, in forum posts, on your website, on your blog sidebar, in article resource boxes, and so on. People will follow you if you have some credibility which you should haveve doing it this way.
4. Be consistent when posting new updates, or tweets. If you have something to offer say it. This is like posting in your blog. If you let in stagnate you will lose your effectiveness.
5. Social networking is all about being a part of a community. Twitter is no different. If you are an asset to your followers people will want to see what you are up to. You can include a link in your Tweets to anything you want by creating a TinyUrl.
6. Understand all of the ways you can benefit from Twitter. For example you can find new joint venture partners just by posting what you are up to in your internet business. Another way to benefit is outsourcing things you need done by posting a tweet for work such as blog articles, graphics, website design, and so on.
These are 6 easy ways to use Twitter to make new friends and make more money by attracting traffic. Because it is here to stay, and the ways to use it will only increase, this is something you are going to want to learn more about.

Twitter has been called micro-blogging, or blogging for ordinary people. Basically they have provided a way for people who don’t want a full fledged blog to post about their daily happenings.
The downside to Twitter is the amount of people who sign up and make a post, but then never return. Currently these abandoned accounts are never deleted, so it’s up to you to update your follower and following lists keeping them clear of these abandoned accounts.
Finding Followers:
Besides being able to add your friends and email contacts to Twitter, they also provide a handy search box to help you find people to follow.
One of the best ways to get followers is to follow others first,. There is one check you must do before adding someone to your list, the most recent post date. Just adding thousands of people to your twitter list will not bring you followers. Twitter received a lot of buzz and attracted a lot of tire kickers, but if you aren’t paying attention then you could easily end up with the majority of your list being people who haven’t logged on to Twitter for a months, and they won’t be coming back to check out your profile anytime soon.
So step one to a clutter-free Twitter is to follow the right people. I will search for a particular term, and flip through the list, signing up to follow only people who have posted in the last 7 days. Also I will not follow anyone on their first post, I want to make sure they will be coming back on a regular basis.
Culling The List:
As your lists grow, you will want to check your following list and un-check those who have not posted for a while. I like to use a 30 day rule. Every time I log on to Twitter, I check 5 to 10 people in my list, and stop following the ones who have not made a post in the last 30 days. Many people don’t post every day, or even every week, but chances are if they have not posted in the last month, they probably won’t be posting again.
Following Followers:
Step 3 is returning the favor. Whenever you log in, check your follower list to make sure you are returning the favor to everyone that is following you. Unless they are just spamming the Twitter system with affiliate links posted every couple of minutes, there is no reason not to give back.
Posting With Links:
When writing a post with a link, whether to your site, an affiliate link, or just something cool you found, there is no need to place a full URL. Just using the www.sitename.com format will automatically make a clickable link.
While affiliate links are okay, try to post valuable content as well. Just putting up a bunch of obvious affiliate links will lose your following.

Twitter is in a league of it’s own, it’s a different kind of web 2.0 social marketing. It’s nothing like MySpace and Facebook, or even Digg and Propeller to name a few.It’s a lot more like blogging and mini-blogging and micro-blogging and yet it’s not. So what the heck is Twitter and how do you profit from it?

Twitter is one part chat and one part blogging. Mini blogging to be exact, as you only get 140 characters per post.  Some businesses such as traffic generation explosion like to referrer to Twitter as Micro-blobbing. 

You can also use Twitter on your cell phone to keep in touch better. Some of the benefits are you have the aspects of social sites because you can follow others and be followed as well. 

1. Immediate Interaction 

The immediate interaction is one reason to use twitter in your marketing efforts.  This will help build the relationship with your customers and friends that so many are looking for. 

You get to interact immediately with your customers (followers) in a way you can’t do with a regular blog or even via comments on sites like MySpace and Facebook.

 2. Twitter is being used by everyone 

This goes along with number one. You get closer to your customer base which helps build your relationship. As more and more people start using Twitter you will see more benefits, so will your competition. If you don’t adapt and take advantage of applications like Twitter you’ll be left behind and lose customers. 

3. Short and to The Point, make it count 

Twitter like a phone text message, limits you to 140 characters.We all know we are too busy, get bombarded with too many marketing messages and too many emails to read much more than that anyway.  Your customers will appreciate these short and to the point messages. 

If you’re not using Twitter, I highly recommend you start. It’s another marketing channel for your Internet marketing efforts to pay off.  http://www.traffic-generation-explosion.com would like to thank Twitter for all they do.  Keep up the great work Twitter. 

Author: Al Ferretti, Jim Grygar, Skeeter Hansen

Every conversation has rules. We know not to interrupt someone when they’re talking. We know not to use bad language when we talk. We know not to talk too loudly.And we know too how and when to break all of the rules.Exactly the same is true for a Twitter conversation. The site hasn’t been around for long, but Twitterers have already tried to figure out something like a Twittering etiquette.Some of those etiquette rules are smart, sensible, and should always be followed. Others are smart, sensible, and should usually be followed.While it’s important to know the rules, it’s just as important then to know when to break them — and what happens when you do.1. Don’t spam.This is one rule you can’t break. Spammers don’t survive long on Twitter. They don’t build followers. Any followers they do get don’t read their tweets and the number of conversions they can generate will be so tiny that as a marketing method, you’d probably be better off printing a thousand flyers, folding them into paper airplanes and tossing them out of your office window.There are all sorts of different ways to spam on Twitter. As we’ve seen, one way is to follow lots and lots of people in the hope that some of them follow you in return. That’s not just ineffective, it also turns up clearly in your bio.Whenever someone’s bio shows that they’re following several thousand people but only being followed by a handful, that’s a pretty good sign that they’re looking to spam. They’re trying to build up followers who will follow them out of politeness rather than because they have interesting content.Twitterers often steer clear of people like that.The spamming itself though is done by constantly sending out tweets that say things like: “I’ve just put up a new blog post — check it out!” or “Sign up for my RSS feed!”You can send out tweets like this occasionally. But as we’ll see later in this section, they have to be mixed in with other tweets too. Otherwise, you’re just spamming, and that’s annoying.Worse, it doesn’t work.2. Follow style rules.Twitter’s founders may have had mobile phones in mind when they designed the service, and plenty of users may be typing their updates from their handheld devices, but Twitter isn’t exactly the same as SMS messaging.That means the language needs to look more like real words than the usual SMS-style abbreviations.It goes without saying that typing in uppercase letters looks like you’re shouting, but in addition to avoiding all uppercase, you should spell out words completely and avoid using numbers instead of letters whenever possible. (For example, “late” is not spelled “l8″ and “to” is two letters, not one number.)That might mean more typing, but the reasoning is sensible. “Heading 2 town l8. Dont nowot 4″ is hard for the reader to understand. It’s only good manners — and good marketing sense — for you to put in the work so that your readers don’t have to.There are exceptions, of course. If you’re really strapped for space, this is a rule you can break, but understand that you’re forcing your followers to make an effort. What is permissible, though, is to use symbols such as @ and=and to skip some of the grammar. The question Twitter asks might be “What are you doing now?” but you don’t have to begin your answer by saying “I am . . . “Sentence fragments such “About to start watching the football. Can’t wait.” are fine.3. Give credit for retweets.One of the things that makes Twitter such a powerful tool is the fact that information placed on the site can quickly go viral. When one person spots a good tweet, they can pass that message on to their own followers, and soon it’s spreading right across the Twitterverse and beyond.For a marketer, that’s like hitting the jackpot.On Twitter, it’s done by retweeting.Twitterers can simply copy someone else’s tweet and tweet it themselves . . . but they must give credit to the original Twitterer. The format for retweets, then, looks like this:”Retweet @username: original tweet.”So if you wanted to retweet this post from my timeline:”Spontaneous LIVE broadcast! join me now with special guest! http://tinyurl.com/jclive” then you would tweet:”Retweet @joelcomm: Spontaneous LIVE broadcast! join me now with special guest! http://tinyurl.com/ jclive”Any comments you want to add to the retweet can go at the beginning or in brackets at the end:”Not missing this! Retweet @joelcomm: Spontaneous LIVE broadcast! join me now with special guest! http://tinyurl.com/jclive”"Retweet @joelcomm: Spontaneous LIVE broadcast! join me now with special guest! http://tinyurl.com/jclive (Not missing this!)”The etiquette is simple enough. Sharing tweets is easy to understand, too. It might not be original content, but if your followerswould find the original tweet interesting, why shouldn’t you share it?The tricky bit is to get other people to retweet for you. While you can ask specifically for retweets — and some people do — it’s not really good form.If your tweets are interesting enough, people will share them with their friends and followers — and those friends and followers will come to your page to find out who you are.4. Stick to 140 characters.You have to stick to 140 characters, right? That’s all they give you, and they do it for a good reason. Being starved of space stops you waffling and sparks your creativity. It’s what Twitter is all about.Well, yes and no.Twitter gives you 140 characters because that’s all that can fit through SMS systems. If mobile phone companies could handle messages of 200 characters, then that’s probably how long our tweets would be.Even though the limit is fairly arbitrary, it does make sense to keep to it as much as possible.The alternative is to show half-complete tweets and offer links for people to continue reading or break messages up so that they’re sent over several tweets.You can see this happening sometimes on Twitter, and it rarely looks good. Readers expect the content on Twitter to be small. They expect to be able to read and absorb it in one bite. These are content snacks, not three-course meals with coffee.Writing a thought that takes more than 140 characters and spreading it over three or four tweets is giving people more than they want. It also makes you look like you’re dominating the conversation.Chat with a friend, and you’ll take turns speaking. You’ll speak, your friend will respond, and then you’ll continue. Keep talking without giving your friend a chance to offer his response and you’ll start to sound rude.Multiple tweets can have the same effect upon Twitter. Again, this doesn’t mean you should never break up a long tweet. And it certainly doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t post one tweet after another.What it does mean is that you should be aware of the effect you can create in your timeline when you do either.5. Follow people who follow you.How many people you should follow on Twitter can always make for a great discussion point. Follow thousands of people and you’re not going to be able to read all of their tweets. Inevitably, you’ll miss tweets you’d really like to read, and you’ll look like someone who has lots of acquaintances but no real friends.In practice, it doesn’t alwayswork this way. I follow more than 1,700 people. That’s a lot less than the 4,500 or so who follow me, and while I know I’m missing tweets, I love the fact that when I look at my Twitter page I can see a huge variety of different conversations taking place.It’s a bit like strolling through the lobby during a break at a conference. I can choose which conversations to join and which to walk past. I find it very valuable, but I also don’t want to overdo it so I don’t follow everyone who follows me.That makes me a feel a little rude, but I do feel that I have to control the number of tweets that pass across my home page and keep them focused on conversations that relate to Internet marketing.You might feel different.You might want — at least at the beginning — to reward everyone who follows you by following them in return. There are plenty of top Twitterers who do this.Similarly, you might prefer only to follow close friends and people you already know. That will make you look antisocial and cliquey, which is not the best image for a marketer, but it’s possible.Ultimately, I think this is one place where eventually you have to skip the etiquette and do what works. As your follower list grows, you’ll have to start being a little bit choosier about who you follow in return — and your followers will just have to understand that you’re being selective, not rude.Spend any time on Twitter and you’re going to come across plenty of other rules too. Some purists, for example, argue that your tweets should only describe what you’re doing, not what you’re thinking or planning to do. I think that’s far too restrictive: if it sparks a conversation and entertains your followers, it’s a fair topic. If they don’t like it, they should read someone else’s tweets.And that’s really the ultimate test of tweet etiquette: how other people react and how you would react to the same kind of thing.If you’re building followers and they’re responding to what you’re writing, you’re following the right rules.The above is an excerpt from the book Twitter Power: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time by Joel Comm with Ken Burge. The above excerpt is a digitally scanned reproduction of text from print. Although this excerpt has been proofread, occasional errors may appear due to the scanning process. Please refer to the finished book for accuracy.Copyright © 2009 Joel Comm with Ken Burge, author of Twitter Power: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time Author BioJoel Comm, co-author of Twitter Power: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time, is one of the world’s leading experts on strategies for making money online. He is an in-demand speaker at conferences on Internet marketing and business, and also the author of The AdSense Code and Click Here to Order. Ken Burge, co-author of Twitter Power: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time, is an eight-year veteran of Microsoft and is currently Joel Comm’s business partner and President of InfoMedia, Inc. As an expert in online marketing and strategy, Ken is responsible for the direction and management of more than fifty profitable online properties.

“What are you doing?” This is the question that Twitter asks you upon logging in or upon opening the site. Just what are you doing? If this is how the site charms its members, what’s so great about Twitter?
First, you need to know what the site is. Basically, it is a social network and micro-blogging service. If you are familiar with FaceBook, MySpace, or Multiply, then you’ll have no problems getting into Twitter.
As a social network, it aims to gather groups of people who have the same interests. As a micro-blogging service, it provides short updates on the users blogs, or even just his activities.
Twitter is all about the “tweets”, or updates. Updates are the answers to the ultimate Twitter question: “What are you doing?” What’s great about Twitter is that is only requires you 140 characters to answer the site’s central question. To many, the prescribed length of characters is seen as a limitation. On the other hand, it challenges you to say things using fewer words. After all, less is always more!
So again, what’s so great about Twitter? What makes it different from other social networking sites?
The Terms
The terms that Twitter uses are unique and interesting enough to differentiate the site from other social networks, like “tweet”, for example. Below is a list of Twitter terms that you need to be familiar with:
1.Follower – Those who have chosen to receive your tweets. Simply put, these are your friends who want to be updated about your life.
2.Following – Those whom you want to be updated about. For instance, if you are following Anna, you will receive Anna’s tweets regularly. Following Anna essentially shows that you want to know what Anna is up to as of the moment.
3.Nudge – This is a friendly reminder to your circle, urging them to give out updates. You can nudge, and you can be nudged.
The Commands
The commands used in Twitter are plain and simple, no pesky steps that need to be followed. If you want to tweet, you simply have to write your message in the small box on top of your page.
The registration process? Simply wonderful! You don’t need to key in a number of unimportant pieces of personal information. You just have to be ready with a username (and Twitter checks out the availability of that chosen name right then and there), a password, an email address, and a URL to your personal site or blog, if you have one. The registration process takes no more than 2 minutes of your time.
The Ways to Receive the Tweets
With Twitter, you are provided with more than one way of sending your tweets. This feature is perhaps the most remarkable edge of Twitter. So how can you post your 140-character updates?
1. Through your home page at Twitter.com. – This is the most widely-used method of tweeting. The home page is so friendly and is neat-looking. As such, you aren’t bothered by pesky pop-ups, complicated commands, and useless applications whose sole purpose is to make the page look heavy. Now with such an atmosphere, isn’t it nice to just randomly type in your thoughts? Even tweets such as “I’m bored” are very welcome on Twitter!
2. Through your mobile phone. – Before you can use this feature, you need to verify your number first. It can be done in a few simple steps.
Before you start, however, you initially need to check if your area or country of residence supports this type of service. Surely, those living in the US and Canada will fully enjoy the advantages of this feature.
3. Through http://www.m.twitter.com. – This is Twitter’s mobile site.
4. Through third-party applications. – Twitter Fan Wiki is the most popular third party application that uses Twitter’s API (Application Programming Interface). As it is a “wiki”, you can add, remove, and edit available content. You simply have to create an account to join this group.
Twitter is a relatively new network. Its official launching can be traced back no more than two years ago – July 15, 2006, to be exact. Despite this, it has gathered more than 3 million accounts in just over two years of operation. This shows how increasingly popular Twitter has become.
So, what’s so great about Twitter? Everything!

As Twitter continues to grow in popularity at an alarming rate and new users are starting to come on board, it can be hard to figure out where to get started with Twitter. While it is a communication medium like email for example, it is used in an entirely different way. Twitter is more sociable and fun rather than practical and actually understanding the main concepts and principles of Twitter can take a little while.

So in this article I’d like to try and give you a beginners guide to Twitter and in doing so to give you a basic guide to what Twitter is and what Twitter does so you can more easily get involved.

In essence, Twitter is a micro-blogging service. Every Twitter user has their own little tiny “blog” that they can add messages to of up to 140 characters in length. They can also send messages of the same maximum length to other Twitter users and these messages will then appear on their recipients blog. Each of these little messages is known as a tweet.

As well as adding tweets to your blog, sending them to other people or even reading other peoples Twitter blogs, you can also “follow” any Twitter user of your choice. When you “follow” someone, their tweets then start to appear on your Twitter page. In this way you can keep up to date with what all your friends, family and business contacts are doing in one place. By simply following all your contacts and keeping an eye on your Twitter page you can see live what everyone you know is up to.

When Twitter first launched, you interacted with the service using the Twitter website but now you can interact in virtually any way possible. As examples you can access your Twitter feed live from a variety of desktop applications so you don’t have to be logged into the Twitter website. You can also send and receive tweets via text (sms) message directly on your cell phone.

Twitter is part of a movement known as “life streaming” where part of the aim is to simply reveal your actions and thoughts live as you go about your day. Initially this meant that people would add such interesting messages as “Just eating some cereal” or “Paying for gas”. These days such messages are understandably frowned upon though the more interesting tweets are welcomed.

This is a good way of not just staying in contact with people, but also learning about other people in quite a deep way. If you know what movie they’ve just watched or what they’re doing on the weekend you feel more of a part of their life. Twitter is as much about conversations and communication as just sending a practical email to someone.

The general advice for a new Twitter user would be to simply try it out and see if you like it. Some people love it, others loath it and you won’t know until you try it. Just sign up for a free account, find your friends and “follow” them, then get involved with the conversation. When they tweet, tweet back.

“What are you doing?” This is the question that Twitter asks you upon logging in or upon opening the site. Just what are you doing? If this is how the site charms its members, what’s so great about Twitter?
First, you need to know what the site is. Basically, it is a social network and micro-blogging service. If you are familiar with FaceBook, MySpace, or Multiply, then you’ll have no problems getting into Twitter.
As a social network, it aims to gather groups of people who have the same interests. As a micro-blogging service, it provides short updates on the users blogs, or even just his activities.
Twitter is all about the “tweets”, or updates. Updates are the answers to the ultimate Twitter question: “What are you doing?” What’s great about Twitter is that is only requires you 140 characters to answer the site’s central question. To many, the prescribed length of characters is seen as a limitation. On the other hand, it challenges you to say things using fewer words. After all, less is always more!
So again, what’s so great about Twitter? What makes it different from other social networking sites?
The Terms
The terms that Twitter uses are unique and interesting enough to differentiate the site from other social networks, like “tweet”, for example. Below is a list of Twitter terms that you need to be familiar with:
1.Follower – Those who have chosen to receive your tweets. Simply put, these are your friends who want to be updated about your life.
2.Following – Those whom you want to be updated about. For instance, if you are following Anna, you will receive Anna’s tweets regularly. Following Anna essentially shows that you want to know what Anna is up to as of the moment.
3.Nudge – This is a friendly reminder to your circle, urging them to give out updates. You can nudge, and you can be nudged.
The Commands
The commands used in Twitter are plain and simple, no pesky steps that need to be followed. If you want to tweet, you simply have to write your message in the small box on top of your page.
The registration process? Simply wonderful! You don’t need to key in a number of unimportant pieces of personal information. You just have to be ready with a username (and Twitter checks out the availability of that chosen name right then and there), a password, an email address, and a URL to your personal site or blog, if you have one. The registration process takes no more than 2 minutes of your time.
The Ways to Receive the Tweets
With Twitter, you are provided with more than one way of sending your tweets. This feature is perhaps the most remarkable edge of Twitter. So how can you post your 140-character updates?
1. Through your home page at Twitter.com. – This is the most widely-used method of tweeting. The home page is so friendly and is neat-looking. As such, you aren’t bothered by pesky pop-ups, complicated commands, and useless applications whose sole purpose is to make the page look heavy. Now with such an atmosphere, isn’t it nice to just randomly type in your thoughts? Even tweets such as “I’m bored” are very welcome on Twitter!
2. Through your mobile phone. – Before you can use this feature, you need to verify your number first. It can be done in a few simple steps.
Before you start, however, you initially need to check if your area or country of residence supports this type of service. Surely, those living in the US and Canada will fully enjoy the advantages of this feature.
3. Through http://www.m.twitter.com. – This is Twitter’s mobile site.
4. Through third-party applications. – Twitter Fan Wiki is the most popular third party application that uses Twitter’s API (Application Programming Interface). As it is a “wiki”, you can add, remove, and edit available content. You simply have to create an account to join this group.
Twitter is a relatively new network. Its official launching can be traced back no more than two years ago – July 15, 2006, to be exact. Despite this, it has gathered more than 3 million accounts in just over two years of operation. This shows how increasingly popular Twitter has become.
So, what’s so great about Twitter? Everything!

What Is This Twitter You Speak Of?

So what is Twitter and how can it be of benefit to you or your business? Twitter is a free online micro-blogging application which gives you the ability to send out short messages (up to 140 characters) called “tweets” to people who are following you on Twitter. You can send tweets either through your computer or by using your cell phone via a text message. These tweets/messages can be about anything you want and they can include links, as well. Making Twitter even more useful is the ability to send a direct message to someone you are following (this is done by entering @username at the beginning of your message) or replying to someone’s tweet with your own. You would be surprised how common it is to reply to someone’s message then to have someone who is either following you or the person you sent the reply to reply to your initial message and so on.

People can follow you and your tweets by first signing-up for their own free Twitter account at the Twitter site then adding you to their list of people they are following. Once you have created your account, you can either check your Twitter page (your own personal page which appears after you sign-in at the Twitter home page) for any of your friend’s new messages or you can send out your own. But it is much easier, in my opinion, to use one of the many online or desktop applications which give you the ability to do all of this and more.

Twitter As A Communication Tool

Twitter is a quick and easy way to communicate with family, friends, business associates, and also within a company setting. Being an online service, Twitter is available to anyone with online access. All you have to do is login to your account through any number of third-party applications developed for Twitter or through the Twitter site and you are ready to go. Within a company setting, employees could have a Twitter account created for them with the option to have their messages protected. This means only people they (or you or the person in charge of creating the Twitter accounts) approve will be able to send and receive messages from them. The same thing could be done using an instant message program but with Twitter, there would be no software to install and it would be accessible from anywhere with an online connection. Additionally, the person who is in charge of the Twitter accounts will have the power to control who is and who isn’t part of this private Twitter network.

Even though there are tons of online communication applications available, Twitter can also be used as a way for people who are collaborating on a project to stay in touch with one another regardless of where they are. And depending on which third-party application they are using to Twitter with, these conversations can be saved for future reference. There are even some third-party apps which you can use to send files up to 10MB to anyone you are following as long as they are using the same application, that is. Still, a handy feature to have and one which may become a feature of Twitter if there’s a big enough demand for it.

Marketing With Twitter

Here in lies the great thing about Twitter from a business perspective: the marketing potential it offers users. Sure, it is great to send messages and chat using Twitter, but it can also be a great marketing tool if used correctly. Have some breaking news you want to get out quickly? Send it out as a Tweet. Made an important update to your blog or web site? Let people know about it instantly with a Tweet. Want to promote your project, book, movie, whatever by giving away a free download or preview? Send out a Tweet with a URL to the free download. Only want to market something to certain individuals you are following? Simply enter their username preceded by the “@” and you are set.

Another simple marketing tool available with Twitter is the ability to befriend people who are following someone you already follow. While this practice could backfire on you if you begin to add everyone you find following someone you are following, be picky and just befriend those who either share similar tastes that you do or work in the same field as you or already follow many of the same people you do. Otherwise, you could come off as a spammer which will be a hard image to shake.

Twitter Now And Beyond

Twitter represents a fundamental change in the way people communicate online. There have always been instant messengers and they have their place and purpose but they don’t offer the one thing which sets Twitter apart and that is the ability to instantly communicate with either a couple of people or potentially thousands without the need for proprietary software. No need to download this piece of software in order to communicate with this person or that organization.

Much like how blogging has become a staple of today’s society, Twitter and “twittering” is on the same path to becoming ingrained in today’s culture despite only being around for less than two years. So simple in its execution, powerful in the marketing opportunities it offers, and ease of use, Twitter will be one of the top web technologies to gain worldwide prominence in 2008.