An Introduction into the Uses of Twitter

Twitter is a light wieght micro blogging platform allowing users to publish short messages of less than 140 characters through different mediums like IM, cellphones and the web. A valuable social tool, as it allows users to follow and monitor messages or updates. The ease of use and simplicity have been paramount in Twitters success.

Having never being a fan of Facebook due to the fact that it is a big distraction and with help of third party developers becomes more complex everyday. Twitter on the other hand does not have an abundance of third party apps and ads fighting for your screen space, instead it is simple, ad free and allows you too customize the look.

I was reluctant to sign up at Twitter mostly because I was worried about it becoming too distracting and really didn't want another social networking platform to manage. After a few days I saw the value in marketing benefits and increased traffic. It does not have to take up a lot of time as a weekly or daily 140 character message is often all that is needed to keep followers interested and engaged.

For business and self-promotion it is interesting to see the many ways in which twitter is implemented. A valuable tool for getting the word out and creating a automated group of followers from a new stream.

It has been great to see all the different types of Twitter birds designers have been churning out.

The site is simple and creating an account is quick and painless, one of the things that put me off Twitter initially was the name, but you soon get over it. I must say I do admire the simple branding and now famous blue bird logo. The logo has really taken off in helping people recognize Twitter. It has been great to see all the different types of Twitter birds designers have been churning out.

Below I have compiled a list of some very useful and unique ways different people are using Twitter.

1. Build traffic. A great way to build traffic to your website, not only can you have a link on your profile page that acts as a valuable back link, but you can also add links to individual pages as you go about tweeting.
2. Make Friends. Alike other social networking sites, meeting new people on Twitter is very straightforward.
3. Branding Using Twitter helps establish your personal brand by building a casual persona, other followers are attracted to well established twitterer's.
4. Feedback. If your looking for instant feedback from a selected group before releasing something to the mainstream then Twitter can be a quick and easy solution.
5. Hire People. With more a more individuals working freelance it can be daunting to find the right person, by finding related twitter accounts and asking for recommendations you can quickly source a fitting person for the job.
6. Read News. It so instant, there is no wonder Twitter has become a great source for staying up to date on latest new events.
7. To Do list. Recording tweets and marking them of as a favorite will ensure you never forget to pick up milk on the way home.
8. Business Management. Twitter can be used as a company intranet connecting employees to one another on a private internal network.
9. Event Updates. Easily get the word out on upcoming events, if rain threatens to put a damper on the day then Twitter can prove very effective in keeping potential visitors up to date.
10. Product Updates. A great way to spread the word about a new product.
11. Live coverage. Although limited to 140 characters, you can use Twitter for live commentary for a live event.
12. Time Management and Analysis. You can keep a detailed record of what you are doing every day and look back over time to analyze progress.
13. Set Up Meetings. An informal and casual way of arranging a meeting.
14. Acquire Votes. Post a question and ask your followers to vote or post a link to another social networking site like Facebook or Digg, so people can vote by clicking.