It’s becoming fairly easy to say you either get Twitter, the online micro-blogging service, or you don’t but rarely does anyone take the time to actually explain it to those not in the know.   I’ve been an avid Twitter watcher for nearly a year but heard about it back in May 2007.   I did take a look at the service around that time but didn't understand the impact of what they were doing and I admit I ignored it then.

Why do I review my Twitter timeline 10 times more often than email?  Simple.  It’s a global conversation about the topics I’m interested in.

To the people who deride Twitter with comments about not wanting to know what you had for lunch, I do see you point.  However, Twitter is so much more than that if it ever was that at all.   Pick a subject and go to http://search.twitter.com Enter the subject and click search.   What you are seeing is the live web not an archive of web sites, however recent, it’s what people are talking about all around the globe about your subject at this precise moment in time.

You cannot get a better understanding about trends and topics that are important right now than a search on Twitter.    This was immediately brought home to me with the recent plane crash in the Hudson river.  I was made aware of the crash before any news channel simply with a pop-up bubble at the bottom of my browser.

There is a certain addiction about not wanting to miss out on the conversation if you are away from a pc or mobile for a while but I’m just as addicted to football/soccer forums and news sites and I wish they were more accessible like Twitter.

What’s all the stuff about following and being followed?   Again this is simple……

I’m interested in certain topics so I searched for them and found the most vocal and importantly interesting people talking about the subject.  I followed their comments and when I felt knowledgeable enough I added my own thoughts often directly to the main voices.  Chances are they like what they see and follow you.  You quickly form part of the community and lots of people follow you.   You then have a strong voice.

Once you have a voice and getting followers is important you can use Twitter to full effect.   Ask questions, pose questions and use the global nature of the conversation to improve your knowledge about any subject you desire.

Rightly or wrongly Twitter can make or break a subject, company or person.   Barack Obama famously used Twitter during his campaign.  Equally an off the cuff remark from Stephen Fry about a hand held Espresso device has catapulted handpresso.com to the top of the trends in the last 3 hours.  Who knows how many orders they’ve taken.

Twitter isn't just another social media site like Facebook it’s a whole new way of communicating and if companies don’t embrace it they are going to feel very disconnected with their customers.

If you want to talk to me about how Twitter can be integrated into you organisation and your web site give me a shout.

Follow me on http://twitter.com/dillorscroft