The easiest way to explain Twitter is to liken it to a very slow chat room, but technically its a micro blog.
Mobile businesses, like the street vendors selling food in California, use Twitter to let their customers know exactly where they'll be, and when. The result is a crowd of customers waiting to purchase their delicious food as they arrive. I also use Twitter for my business, but in different way. If you visit my Guitar Lab Twitter page you'll see a series of links you can click on to see what I've been building or repairing that day. So no matter what type of business your in, Twitter is a great way to connect with your customer base and keep them informed. If you'd like to take a look at our Twitter page, simply click on the link below...
twitter.com/guitar_lab
Twitter is especially useful for celebrities! Unlike facebook or MySpace, there are no awkward friend requests to approve or deny. You can have millions of followers without seeing a single thing they write! It's also a form of free market research. For example, Debi Mazar (of HBO's Entourage) sent out a Tweet before she agreed to do the TV show "Dancing With The Stars" asking her fans on Twitter if they thought the show was lame, or something they would like to see her in. You just can't beat Twitter when it comes to instant, real time feedback.
Possibly, the most useful thing about Twitter is its search engine. Unlike searches done on Google, you get results in real time, not days later! This is the best way to find out about breaking news. In fact, most major news networks have been stealing their stories from people's Tweets (messages) for a while now! Here is how it works... lets say you've just heard about a plane crash in Nevada... simply search for "plane crash Nevada" and you'll get real time results of what people are saying about it!
If your just an "average Joe" like me, you may not find Twitter to be very useful as a social networking tool. What fun is posting something unless someone else is reading it, right? So my personal Twitter account is more of a news feed, letting me stay informed about the people and businesses I think are cool.
