Twitter has received an enormous amount of attention in 2009. In just the past few months, Twitter has experienced explosive growth, thanks in part to high profile coverage by Ashton Kutcher and Oprah.

According to Sysomos Inc, one of the world’s leading social media analytics companies, Twitter has experienced hockey stick-like growth in 2009. 72.5% of all Twitters first joined Twitter during the first five months of 2009. Twitter is incredibly popular in bigger cities like New York, LA, Toronto, San Francisco and Boston. And, there are more women on Twitter than men. 53% 5o 47%.

What is Twitter?

Twitter is a micro-blogging platform that allows you to tell the world what you are currently doing in 140 characters or less and connect with people globally. In a sense, it is like a global chat room where news and ideas can go viral within minutes.

The Twitter concept is simple. You sign up for an account, edit your profile, and answer the question: “What are you doing?” If you structure your profile well, people within your niche market will find you and “follow” you, which means they sign up to receive your updates and communicate with you.

Twitter is social by nature. You have to try it out for a few days to really understand how powerful of a tool it is. While you can use it to simply broadcast short messages and updates, you get the most benefit when you actively participate in the ongoing conversation.

Of course, with so much information streaming at any given point, not everyone on your list will read every Tweet you make, but if you befriend enough loyal followers, you can both be a connector and be connected with top people throughout the globe. It is a fantastic way to meet people and get to know them.

Isn’t Social Media Just a Fad?

Perhaps you’ve heard that social media is just a fad and haven’t wanted to use it to market your services. If you think this, I encourage you to watch this YouTube video.

What Makes Twitter Different?

With so many social networking sites out there, you may wonder - what makes Twitter different? It doesn’t have nearly the functionality of Facebook. When the two are compared side-by-side, Twitter seems extremely basic.

Yet Twitter’s simplistic nature has been one of the contributing factors leading to its enormous success. Anyone can sign up and start posting within a minute or two. And because you are limited to 140 characters, it doesn’t take long to craft and submit a post.

Twitter has a vast group of loyal updaters who often beat the mainstream media to announce current events. If a major earthquake happens or an airplane crashes, Tweeters within the area will immediately post. If a major event such as a conference or political rally is happening, people attending the event will Tweet updates to keep people informed.

Benefits of Twitter

Twitter isn’t only for people who want to stay current on national trends and current events. Businesses can build a targeted following by staying active in the community. Here are some ways you can use Twitter to grow your business.

• Promote Your Services - By announcing newsletters you send out, articles you publish to your website, new product launches, and other major business events, you can promote your products and services instantaneously.

• Ask For Feedback - If you need to conduct market research, simply send a Tweet asking your followers for feedback. Twitter can be a great tool to help you build trust and credibility within your market.
• Build Your Web Presence - Twitter can also help you build a web presence. If you use your name as your Twitter account, it should rank well in Google when prospects search for you. Mine was ranking for my name within less than a week. (Follow me on Twitter.)
• Drive traffic To Your Website - Not only is Twitter great for helping you rank well in Google, you can also use it to drive traffic to your website. Because you control the information channel, you can direct people to sources of great information.
• Build Your Network - Twitter can also be a great tool to build your sphere of influence. It’s extremely easy to find people in your niche area through various Twitter search engines. And more and more influential people have started Twitter accounts, so if you want to meet someone in person, check Twitter to see if they already have an account. If so, that makes it incredibly easy to start networking with them.
• Monitor Your Competition - Want to find out what your competitors are talking about? Twitter will help you stay up-to-date on what is going on in your industry with minimal effort. As you engage with your colleagues, peers and competitors, you will always be in the loop about the latest buzz.

The best thing about Twitter is it is so easy! Even if you hate writing articles, you can easily think of something to write about in 140 characters or less. And as you get good at Tweeting, you will be amazed at just how much you can say in so few words.

Get Started On Twitter

I’ve just put together a step-by-step Beginner’s Guide to Twitter that will walk you through the process of setting up your Twitter account, what to write about, how to get followers, ways to automate the process, and the most popular Twitter tools you can use to make using Twitter a breeze.

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