What is Twitter?

Described by many as the ‘logical evolution of blogging’, Twitter is the latest in a line of free social networks to offer a micro-blogging service to its internet users.

Enabling you to send 140 character status updates (tweets) to your friends, family and contacts via their website, SMS (Short Message Service) and other external applications, Twitter is a far cry from other social networks, such as Facebook which allow you to create detailed in-depth profiles.

However despite its simplicity, the sheer popularity of Twitter has triggered a wave of URL Shortening services (tinyurl, bit.ly and tr.im) and content hosting services which have been specifically designed to cope with their structure.

If that is not a sign of its lasting potential, what we don’t know what is!

Why is Twitter so popular?

Many would argue that Twitter offers nothing more than your average social networks aside from its capacity to allow you to send/receive tweets and establish a following. Yet since its creation in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Twitter has been ranked:

• 1 of the 50 most popular websites in the world
• The 3rd most used social network (February 2009)

With 6 million new visitors coming to their website every month, it is not surprising that Twitter has a monthly growth rate of 1,382%, news of its networking possibilities is spreading.

What can I do on Twitter?

Much more than you can imagine. In a recent survey by Pear Analytics, after analysing 2,000 tweets over a 2 week period they discovered that:

• 40.55% were pointless babble
• 27.55% were conversational
• 8.7% were re-tweets
• 5.85% were self promotional
• 3.75% were spam
• 3.6% were mainstream news publications

Now ‘pointless babble’ may appear to dominate the majority of Tweeter announcements according to this survey; however the reality is many politicians, businesses and public officials use Twitter as a means to send out messages - whether they be focused towards their cause or not.

How does it work?

Simply sign-up to their website using your name and email address, and once you do you can immediately begin tweeting and researching into topics that interest you.

Now most tweeters will opt to create a brief profile about themselves; however you’ll soon discover that the majority of Tweeters have structured their profile around a particular interest/element in their life e.g. first time buyer, seo specialist, disgruntled tenant, Muse fan…

This doesn’t mean that all their tweets are based around this theme, but some Twitter members, in particular companies will only comment on specific details relating to their business rather than what they had for lunch.

How do I create following?

The fastest way is through using their search options.

If for example you want to follow people who discuss property, then you can use specific property related key words to find them - property prices, mortgage, property investors, and estate agents – and Twitter will take you to the latest posts containing them.

Another method is through your actual tweets. As you have searched for others using Twitters search options, they too will do the same. For this reason you need to be careful about what keywords you use. The more focused they are, the better your following will be.

Twitter for marketing?

It is easy to see why so many corporations use Twitter to advertise their business/products. In one portal they have got access to thousands upon thousands of visitors who could potentially become their next customers.

Of course spamming is disallowed, but by harnessing their tweeting potential and commenting on other tweeters posts, they have been able to turn followers into conversions.

The future of Twitter

Tweeter may be viewed by many as another ‘pointless distraction’, but in the month of February alone, Twitter reported 6 million unique monthly visitors to their website as well as a further 55 million visits.

With such startling statistics, Twitter definitely won’t be going anywhere anytime soon. Not when it has got so many marketing opportunities.