Ever wonder how many followers don't tweet?

Like most folks I use twitter for business.

I do not use it just to say I have a twitter account.

Now let me clarify, when I say business I don't simply mean peddling my website's and/or products..... I do use it for that but I also use it to network, get the latest buzz, pick up on the newest marketing strategies, etc.

Serious twitter's agree that this wonderful tool can be a massive boost to your website traffic and your bottom line.

If used properly.

So what is my point, my point is that although I was following a lot of people I really didn't take the time to look at the individual. My mistake and I freely admit it. We all learn in the beginning.

I wager I am not the first nor the last to do this.

I want to build relationship's. I love sending tweets and I love reading other folks tweets when I have the time.

To get rid of any non-twitting followers I have I simply went to Twitora to filter them out.

A slow process that will take a few days but when all is said and done I will follow like minded people and not ghosts.

So, if you ever want to know how many of your follower's are active or you simply need to clean out your follower list I highly recommend this service.

It's free and I love it.

You just might also.

Happy tweeting. Follow me if you'd like I am active daily, click here.

Garret

Using Twitter For Business

Every now and then I scour the internet for various courses and articles. Sometimes I will even go over old techniques or newer techniques, just to keep myself fresh......you can never start thinking you know it all.

Here's one that reminded me of that;

Recently business has realised the potential use of Twitter as a tool for marketing products and services directly to new customers. If you and your business want to capitalise on Twitter's application for marketing, here's some advice on running your Twitter marketing campaign:

* Set up your Twitter account and profile using your company name. When it comes to filling in your profile details, make it keyword rich, so if a potential customer is searching for companies such as yours, they have a great chance of finding you on Twitter.

* Unless you run a REALLY informal company, you should aim to keep your 'Tweet' messages business-focused. Potential customers don't need to know what you had for lunch.

* Whenever you are writing 'Tweets' make your messages keyword rich, this way people using alerts and searches will be directed to your Tweets when searching for your product or services.

* Use updates judiciously otherwise you will just annoy your potential customers. Once or twice per hour is enough.

* Use an IM-style program like Twitterfox and Twhirl, it sits on your desktop, so it will be quicker and easier to manage than logging into the Twitter website every time you want to send a message.

* Tweetbeep is an alert service to let you know when people are tweeting about key phrases that relate to you and your business. This allows you to reply directly to them if they are looking for help or advice.

* Inform your newsletter subscribers, hot leads and CRM database that you are available to follow on Twitter. Encourage your customers to sign up to Twitter by publishing special Twitter only deals, after all, a Tweet takes no time at all but a newsletter plenty!

* Promote your Twitter account everywhere possible, your social networks, social bookmarking sites, on your company websites, in your emails, wherever you think customers will see it, the more followers that you have, the larger your potential audience/market becomes.

* Finally, plan your Twitter marketing campaign carefully to attract the right attention and create the right buzz. Don't just tweet for twitter's sake. Know what you're doing, plan out your strategy and implement it effectively. Used properly Twitter really works as a great marketing tool.

Twitter is a highly effective tool for business users to connect directly with their potential customers. If you need help attracting new customers through Twitter Marketing, email Nikki at nikki@nikkipilkington.com

And of course, you can 'follow' Nikki herself on Twitter by going to http://www.twitter.com/NikkiPilkington and clicking on 'follow'

We are LIVE!!

Okay everyone.

Today we are LIVE!!!

Sit back and think about this, seriously....if

you could go back in time and get shares in

Microsoft or Google for literally pennies on

the dollar....would you?

If you said "No" you're either nuts or lying ;)

This is no different, it' in it's infancy.

An scary fact, nationally 75 million, yup

million text's re sent. This is huge business,

even info-commercials are getting people to

text there answers.

American Idol has people text.

Can I make a more valid point.

Even if you live outside of he USA or Canada

you can still sign up and MAKE money.

If you don't have Telus who cares, you still

sin up and make money.

I hope you guys don't miss out on this.

HOT NEWS: FaceBook, MySpace & Bebo

Are Going MLM ... Show Me The Money!!

Check this out

http://tinyurl.com/c7rfcj


Sign up under me and let me know I have a huge

gift for you once I verify your subscription.

Cheers

Let's make some money!

Garret

A couple of twitter tricks

Here is some useful information for those of use still uncomfortable with twitter.


I recently was asked to share some tips on how to get around in Twitter. So here are a few of them, baby steps folks ... baby steps

Cool Trick Number 1: Tweader

The more followers you get and the more conversations you have, it can almost become impossible to keep up with all of it. That is the beauty of Tweader, simply type in the url number of your tweet and it shows you the whole thread of conversation connected to that Tweet.

Side note: It took a few minutes to figure out how to get the url number, so here are the steps. Click on the time stamp of the tweet, ex. "Less than 5 seconds ago." When you do, it will open up a cool picture of a Tweet. Then look at the web address line and you'll see the url number at the end.

Cool Trick Number 2: Tweetdeck

I have alot of people I follow, I have seen people with ALOT more. However I am interested in the communities I do follow and what they are saying. I actually have a back up n my pc of all of my follower's and who I am following in specific groups so I don't lose anyone accidentally. Tweetdeck is my way to catch up what my Tweeps are saying. I set up several groups based on communities and watch for my replies there too. It really is useful.

Side note: It even catches some of the @replies that Twitter doesn't see. Especially when your name is mentioned in a list of several @'s.

Cool Trick Number 3: Budurl and Tweetburner

Ever wonder if anyone is really listening to you? Shorten your links with either of these tools and you can track how many people opened them. Cool, isn't it! Budurl is great because it will show you how many people are opening them in real time (10 second delay). Tweetburner is cool because you can see what the hottest links of the moment are on it as well. This is especially handy for business folk trying to track customer interest. It can be used as testing.

Side note: Using these tools, you'll get better at writing headlines that will pull traffic to your links because you can see how well you're doing.

Cool Trick Number 3: TweetGrid and Search.Twitter

Ever wonder what everyone is saying about certain topic(s) at the moment? These cool search sites will do the trick. Search.Twitter is the Twitter engine behind Election2008. TweetGrid allows you to track multiple topics in one window. Very helpful indeed.

Side note: Incredibly handy tools to find people when Twitter's people search is down or see who is responding to a particular topic or question posed by a rockstar Tweeter.

Cool Trick Number 4: TweetBeep

This is awesome, pure and simple. This wonderful add-on I call it will take the information you can find in TweetGrid and Search.Twitter and wrap it all up in a nice little email delivered to you hourly or daily. Very handy for keeping up with topics, products and companies you are following.

Side note: No more daily searches. These programs do the thinking for you!

Cool Trick Number 5: TweatLater

I find this one of my favorite and most useful tools for the twitter atmosphere. It tweet's messages I schedule in advance. It's great because sometimes I will send out a series or follow-ups, pardon the twit-pun.

A couple of other twitter tricks;

SnagIt: Be sure to make your own profile on your twitter home page. If you don't have a fancy dancy graphics program, not a problem? use SnagIt to make any jpg. SnagIt is an amazingly inexpensive tool, considering how powerful it is. You won't know how you lived without it.

Qwitter: Want to find out when people stop following you? Qwitter emails you when people drop you. Not for the person with easily hurt feelings, however!

Pingfm : Use it to broadcast your Tweets across all your social media with one click.

And finally another new discovery could end up in my top 5 list: FriendorFollow. Type in your name and find out who is not following you back.

11/16/08: Yet another new discovery: http://spy.appspot.com/ -- real time tracking of conversations on Twitter and beyond.

Follow me here

Off topic - THE FUNNIEST COMPLAINT LETTER EVER (By Mr Ashley Jenkins)

Okay, this is a little long I admit but well worth the read.

If you've ever had a cell phone you will most definitely love this letter.

I wonder how long before someone notifies Vodafone Brand Development...?

This Truly is the rant to end all rants.


Mr Nick Read
Vodafone CEO
Vodafone House
The Connection
Newbury
Berkshire
RG14 2FN

21st February 2008


Account/Mobile Number
07********2



Dear Nick

I am writing to you today as I am a Vodafone customer who is completely at the end of his tether.

I need your help Nick.

I’ve started dreaming about you. I wonder what you look like; I wonder if you really are the savior of Vodafone. I want you to be Nick, but then I check my inclusive minutes and I realize you are not. I check my voicemail to see if Vodafone Business Relations have called me back but they haven’t Nick. They haven’t called me. It’s all been a dream and I want to die.

I loath writing Nick, it real gets to me, but on this occasion I have to. I have to write to you because the alternative is committing suicide, a suicide which you would be reading about in next months Mobile News magazine.

My suicide note would burn onto your minds retina like a overheated Nokia 6120, the words would jump from the page and into your soul, all constructed via T9 predictive text, and you wouldn’t be able to erase me Nick, the message would be there for good, in your cerebellums inbox.

You see, for 5 months now Nick, I have been in a communicational conundrum, a sort of Newbury Hell.

5 months ago I ordered 15 phone lines for my business. I already had 5 lines with you as I had been with Vodafone for as long as I can remember. I was a customer with you when Chris Gent walked through those pearly Banbury doors, all smartly dressed with nothing but hope in his heart and an Ericsson T29 in his pocket. Times were great then Nick, you even managed to send my bill on time. I loved those days.

Anyway, I digress.

I wanted a Sharer Plan; I needed on average 3000 minutes per user, so for 15 users I needed 45,000 minutes. I also needed them on 12 month commitments and free calls to 0870 numbers.

I was promised all this Nick, the world was my oyster. Vodafone was my Morrissey and I was a young Russell Brand, all gushing with enthusiasm and gusto, but with sexual tension replaced with 500 texts free every month.

We were flirting Nick, Vodafone and I were courting and there was nothing the world could do about it. You wanted longer commitment, but I couldn’t give it, you said 24 months, I said no, give me time, lets take it slow, lets not rush into this, I want to give you my heart but I’m unsure how Google Maps works on the Nokia N95.

We agreed on 12 months contracts.

Next up was the plan, now I’m no Shakespeare Nick, but I would proclaim to have a certain grasp on the English language, so when I uttered the words

‘I do not want 3000 minutes fixed per phone; I want the whole 45,000 minutes to be shared between the 15 users’

I stupidly assumed that Vodafone would understand this, but in hindsight, I now see that this was all too much for Hayleigh Hegar and Jenna Bird to comprehend.

I mean, they barely could grasp the concept of phoning people back, and as for e mail, well; this alien concept was lost on these two. I often sat back in my genuine simulated leather office chair and wonder if I was actually calling Vodafone, or was I being rerouted by some fickle finger of destiny through to a parallel universe, where anything you ask or request engenders the respondent to lie and say the complete opposite of what is actually going to happen, a sort of Alice in Wonderland rabbit hole, without the tea pots.

You see Nick, after the first months bill arrived, I couldn’t wait to open it. The morning it turned up I was like a little boy at Christmas, all exited and red faced. My wife even commented that my cheeks looked like the little Vodafone logo, you know, the one which look like a speech bubble. The irony only added to the moment Nick, it was heaven.

There it was, in a white cardboard box. It looked like a well organized letter bomb. I couldn’t hold it any longer. I wanted to see my savings, I wanted to open that letter bomb Nick and I wanted the savings to jump out of the page and blow up in my face like corporate Anthrax. I ripped the highly emissive carbon paper and there it was Nick, there it was…

I was overcharged £500 because I wasn’t on a sharer plan.

My heart sunk. I retreated to my simulated leather chair Nick and I began panicking. I began panicking Nick because I though, god, if Hayleigh Hegar and Jenna Bird have got this wrong, then there’s no hope. We are all doomed. Vodafone is going to become a massive corporate tennis ball, bouncing around the globalised courts of all 5 continents, stealing money from the pockets of honest paying punters while returning that money to the greedy shareholding ball boys and girls. I was livid Nick, and I don’t even like Tennis.

I immediately contacted my Vodafone team. Team 26, such a bold sounding group, it conjured up images of robotic men in black suits huddled around a control station, manfully directing proceedings like a mini FBI, but this wasn’t the FBI Nick, this was Vodafone’s Customer Service; a group of young bucks floating through life, unable to decide if they should find a real job, synchronize their Blackberry, or face the relentless realization that they have become a number within a number.

That number was 26.

Imagine growing up, and all the fervor and energy of a young child, all enthusiast and eager to learn. Think back Nick, think back to when you were a small child and your ambition was bursting out of you. Then fast forward 15 years. Imagine being part of a team called Team 26.

It would make you want to stick pineapples in your eyes.

I spoke with Hayley Hegar to raise my concerns, after some verbal altercations, I was escalated to a woman called Jenna Bird. I love the word ‘escalated’. You organization uses it so sporadically you feel you are being lifted from you feet and elevated to a different stratosphere.

In the space of 4 months, I have been escalated to no more that 7 people. I don’t think it gets much higher than this Nick, I’m walking on the moon, I’m walking on sunshine, I’m free as a bird Nick, I’m singing in the rain.

No, wait a minute, I’m not, and I’m actually walking on broken glass. I’m walking on broken glass Nick and there are shards of glass covering my bloody feet. I’m walking in sheer pain and I’m heading your way Nick. I’m heading your way and I have shards of glass and in my soles and they feel like 1,000,000 prepay simcards with no talk time.

Jenna Bird took 2 months to tell me everything I knew already. 2 months had gone on, and more money had been extracted manfully from my bank account.

Then, like the parting of the red sea, a miracle arrived in January, like a time delayed Christmas present from Jesus Chris. The marvelous, reclusive, evasive and sprightly Jenna Bird arranged a £2000 credit on my account. I nearly shit myself with surprise.

A breakthrough I thought. A breakthrough of such magnificent proportions it felt like I had won the lottery. Or had I?

I checked my ticket, yes, I had the first 5 numbers Nick, and it was looking good. Lancelot spun round like a spin dryer in a hedge fund, I waited Nick, I waited for the confirmation, all I needed was the number 1 Nick, here it comes Nick, here it comes.

Number 26.

I couldn’t believe it. Jenna Bird had escalated me to a man called Paul Bolton, and this is where it gets interesting Nick. My lottery win had all been a mirage. Smoke and mirrors awaited.

This is the exact timeline of events. Bearing in mind I had at this point been waiting 16 weeks for this to be resolved.

Jenna Bird escalated this on the 5th January to Paul Bolton. She arranged for a £2000 credit on my account to cover the January bill.

Paul Bolton was meant to call me by the 9th January. He didn’t.

I called Vodafone on Monday 12th and was told he would call me that week. He didn’t.

I eventually got hold of him on the 21st January. He apologized and said he would resolve my queries this week. He said he would phone me everyday to give me an update. He didn’t.

I phoned Monday 26th January, and was told that he had been in an accident, and wouldn’t be in work that week.

I was then escalated to a woman called Kim. She apologized and said that she would be dealing with this, but would need some time as she did not know anything about the case. I spent an hour on the phone to her explaining everything again. She told me she would resolve this and come back to me by the end of the week.

Guess what Nick, she didn’t.

I called again on February 2nd. She apologized again and told me that they didn’t do a sharer plan anywhere near what had been offered, but she might be able to pull off something special. She told me someone would be calling me later that day.

Nobody did.

I phoned her again on the 3rd February and again she apologized. Later that day a young lady from Vodafone sales called me, and wait for this Nick, she called me to offer me a standard sharer tariff of 48,000 minutes for £2300 a month.

After speaking to Hayleigh Hegar, Jenna Bird, Paul Bolton and Kim, and when they all knew my problem was the fact that I was promised 45,000 minutes for £990 per month, I then have to suffer the indignation of somebody calling me back and offering me the standard sharer plan which is on your website and has been there since I began this whole affair.

What a joke.

I immediately called Kim back, who immediately appeared on the defensive. She said she would look into this and come back to me.

She didn’t come back to me Nick.

I then phoned her on the 13th February. She said she would escalate the call to her manager, Yvonne Dunbar. Kim said the turnaround to be called back by a manager was 48 hours.

Yvonne didn’t call me. When I did ring and get to speak to her 1 week later, she told me that she had been, and I quote

‘In meetings and whatever’

I explained to her the whole situation. She said she would escalate the call to her manager, Shelaigh Coogan who would phone me back that day.

Shelaigh didn’t phone back. At this point I gave up.

So far, over 5 the months, you have overcharged me approximately £3500, my contracts are still 24 months and not 12 months, I’m still getting charged for 0870 numbers, and I am still nowhere near being on the sharer plan I was told I would be on. As I write this letter, my staff are making calls on the phones and are incurring charges we should not be.

I have written this letter out of sheer frustration Nick, and I have prepared a county court summons for the remaining line rental commitment, which total £18,674.

I will also be circulating this letter around the popular press, including all major UK television channels.

Nick, I remember you once saying that ‘to win in the marketplace you needed to create a brand that customers feel an emotional connection with; that employees want to do their best work for; and that is widely recognised as a leader for the quality of its products and services and the contribution it makes to society’.

You went on to say that you look at everything that passes your desk through several lenses: how it affects our customers and our employees, what the financial implications are. And importantly, you say that you use a corporate responsibility lens to decide if this would protect and build Vodafones reputation.

May I suggest you change your lenses Nick, I think the ones you have on are fucked.

Mr Jenkins

Proud to be a "boring" Canadian!

NEWSWEEK

From the magazine issue dated Feb 16, 2009

The legendary editor of The New Republic, Michael Kinsley, once held a "Boring Headline Contest" and decided that the winner was "Worthwhile Canadian Initiative." Twenty-two years later, the magazine was rescued from its economic troubles by a Canadian media company, which should have taught us Americans to be a bit more humble. Now there is even more striking evidence of Canada's virtues. Guess which country, alone in the industrialized world, has not faced a single bank failure, calls for bailouts or government intervention in the financial or mortgage sectors. Yup, it's Canada. In 2008, the World Economic Forum ranked Canada's banking system the healthiest in the world. America's ranked 40th, Britain's 44th.

Canada has done more than survive this financial crisis. The country is positively thriving in it. Canadian banks are well capitalized and poised to take advantage of opportunities that American and European banks cannot seize. The Toronto Dominion Bank, for example, was the 15th-largest bank in North America one year ago. Now it is the fifth-largest. It hasn't grown in size; the others have all shrunk.

So what accounts for the genius of the Canadians? Common sense. Over the past 15 years, as the United States and Europe loosened regulations on their financial industries, the Canadians refused to follow suit, seeing the old rules as useful shock absorbers. Canadian banks are typically leveraged at 18 to 1-compared with U.S. banks at 26 to 1 and European banks at a frightening 61 to 1. Partly this reflects Canada's more risk-averse business culture, but it is also a product of old-fashioned rules on banking.

Canada has also been shielded from the worst aspects of this crisis because its housing prices have not fluctuated as wildly as those in the United States. Home prices are down 25 percent in the United States, but only half as much in Canada. Why? Well, the Canadian tax code does not provide the massive incentive for overconsumption that the U.S. code does: interest on your mortgage isn't deductible up north. In addition, home loans in the United States are "non-recourse," which basically means that if you go belly up on a bad mortgage, it's mostly the bank's problem. In Canada, it's yours.

Ah, but you've heard American politicians wax eloquent on the need for these expensive programs-interest deductibility alone costs the federal government $100 billion a year-because they allow the average Joe to fulfill the American Dream of owning a home. Sixty-eight percent of Americans own their own homes. And the rate of Canadian homeownership? It's 68.4 percent.

Canada has been remarkably responsible over the past decade or so. It has had 12 years of budget surpluses, and can now spend money to fuel a recovery from a strong position. The government has restructured the national pension system, placing it on a firm fiscal footing, unlike our own insolvent Social Security. Its health-care system is cheaper than America's by far (accounting for 9.7 percent of GDP, versus 15.2 percent here), and yet does better on all major indexes. Life expectancy in Canada is 81 years, versus 78 in the United States; "healthy life expectancy" is 72 years, versus 69.

American car companies have moved so many jobs to Canada to take advantage of lower health-care costs that since 2004, Ontario and not Michigan has been North America's largest car-producing region.

I could go on. The U.S. currently has a brain-dead immigration system. We issue a small number of work visas and green cards, turning away from our shores thousands of talented students who want to stay and work here. Canada, by contrast, has no limit on the number of skilled migrants who can move to the country. They can apply on their own for a Canadian Skilled Worker Visa, which allows them to become perfectly legal "permanent residents" in Canada-no need for a sponsoring employer, or even a job. Visas are awarded based on education level, work experience, age and language abilities. If a prospective immigrant earns 67 points out of 100 total (holding a Ph.D. is worth 25 points, for instance), he or she can become a full-time, legal resident of Canada.

Companies are noticing. In 2007 Microsoft, frustrated by its inability to hire foreign graduate students in the United States, decided to open a research center in Vancouver. The company's announcement noted that it would staff the center with "highly skilled people affected by immigration issues in the U.S." So the brightest Chinese and Indian software engineers are attracted to the United States, trained by American universities, then thrown out of the country and picked up by Canada-where most of them will work, innovate and pay taxes for the rest of their lives.

If President Obama is looking for smart government, there is much he, and all of us, could learn from our quiet-OK, sometimes boring-neighbor to the north. Meanwhile, in the councils of the financial world, Canada is pushing for new rules for financial institutions that would reflect its approach.

Source URL: 2009

This strikes me as, well, a worthwhile Canadian initiative.

181 Free Twitter Buttons, Badges, Widget and Counters to Help You Find Followers

Thank you to Darren Rowse

in Finding Twitter Followers, Twitter Tools

One of the best ways to find new followers for your Twitter account is to leverage any other online profile that you might already have. If you have a website, blog or other social media account linking to your Twitter account is a great way to do this.

Doing it with an eye catching button, widget or counter can be even more effective. Of course there are some Official Twitter Badges available… but what if you want something a little different?

Below are some links to places where you can download 181 different free Twitter buttons, widgets, badges and counters to use on your site (actually there are over 181 when you consider the different sizes, colors, formats that are available on some of these options).

Randa Clay - Free Twitter Graphics

18 different Twitter buttons like this one.

Siah Design - Free Twitter Buttons

42 Twitter buttons - some of them animated

MilkAddict - Twitter button

2 simple round buttons.

31 Logos et boutons pour Twitter

31 great buttons. The blog might not be in English but the buttons are. Some great designs here.

TwitStamp

A little widget that shows your latest twits that comes in a variety of looks, sizes and formats.

TwitGif

The instructions are in Japanese but enter your Twitter account profile and it’ll produce a little widget that you can put in your sidebar with your latest tweets. It includes your avatar and scrolls through your latest tweets.

Twignature

Another Japanese creation that allows you to enter your account name and have a personalized twitter button with your account name on it. Lots of sizes and a few different styles to choose from.

Web Design by mt

10 Twitter Buttons for Free (German - I think)

Twitt-Twoo

WordPress plugin Widget for your blog’s sidebar. There’s another WP sidebar widget plugin here.

Twitter button Icon

Nice looking, high res button

Follow me on Twitter badges

36 colorful Twitter badges

TwitterCounter

A service that tracks your subscriber numbers and produces a twitter counter badge for you.

SayTweet

Not really a badge but you could probably use it as one. It allows you to upload an image and then have your latest tweets appear on it like this

TwitterCard

Another twitter widget

Note: I’ve removed the TwitterCard widget from this post as it seemed to be slowing the loading of this page down. Might be worth testing it before using it.

Of course the above collection of sources of free twitter buttons, badges and widgets just scratch the surface of what is available. If you know of others I’d love to see them linked to in comments below.

More great resources here

Related articles

Can Twitter Be Useful For Business?

If you have yet to hear about Twitter, I might ask you if you have been living in a cave and for how long. The micro-blogging platform that few knew about a year ago has now gone mainstream with over 6 million users - a number that is growing daily. Even major news outlets such as Fox News, CNN and others are using Twitter on a daily basis to get viewer reaction and create discussion around breaking stories and issues.

This leads me to question whether Twitter can be useful for business or is it simply an outlet to waste time and be counter-productive?

As a small business owner, I have found Twitter to be extremely beneficial for business. Sure there are times I have found it to be an incredible time-waster (depending on what it is keeping you from accomplishing such as actual work, spending time with family, etc.). However, in this post, I'd like to focus on how Twitter can be useful to businesses and will cover five functions it can serve. I will then invite comments from others on additional ways they have used Twitter for business.

1. Puts a Human Face On the Company

We already know that blogs are very useful tools to put a face or name to the company - in other words allow the company to become more personable. The problem with blogs is that they require one to actually write.

Twitter on the other hand is like blogging but has a 140 character limit for each entry you make. You can therefore "say" something without having to write up a lengthy post.

Furthermore you do not always have to say something that is important or of any real value. You can tweet (term used for adding entires to Twitter) things like, "currently at airport awaiting flight," or "enjoying a fine bottle of wine right now," or any other random aspect from your personal life. While tweets such as these may seem trivial, they show that you are a real person behind the corporate entity.

2. Community Outreach

Twitter is a great tool for reaching out to a community of people. I have seen it used to broadcast Amber alerts, bring attention to charitable causes (when Twitter users turned their avatars pink for Breast Cancer Awareness month), connect with people at specific events (i.e., conferences, parties, local gatherings, etc.), and discuss breaking news to name a few examples.

How can this be useful for business? Keeping in mind that you should work to build a community around your products and/or services anyway, Twitter is a great tool to help in this process. By setting up a Twitter profile for your company and then making sure you invite your active customers and prospects to follow you, you now have a direct connection to them.

And while newsletters, e-newsletters, and even blogs are effective ways to reach out to your community, Twitter offers a way to reach out by saying very little. Let's face facts - not every client is going to read through a lengthy newsletter or visit every blog post you put out. Short tweets on the other hand are very easy to read and can even call for more action such as inviting clients to read a post or bringing attention to a new product.

3. Product/Service Promotion

Once you have a decent amount of followers, announcing new products and/or services, upgrades or even promotionals becomes a breeze. Also consider that many Twitter users will use specific search queries to locate topics that interest them. Therefore by associating the right keywords along with your tweets, you can attract those that aren't even following you.

While product/service promotion can be an attractive use of Twitter, I caution you to make sure it is not the only thing you contribute. Just as in any web forum, blog commenting system or chat environment, if all you ever do is to "toot" your own horn, you may find yourself doing more harm than good.

Companies such as Southwest Air, M&Ms, and Comcast are just a few examples that are well-balanced in their use of Twitter for a variety of purposes, including product/service promotion.

4. Brand Management

With so many people using Twitter, there are bound to be occurrences where your company and/or products will be discussed. Twitter's search function can be an excellent resource for monitoring brand names - when and how they are being discussed.

Simply enter various search terms related to your company brand and product names and see results in real time. Better yet, save each search as an RSS feed and add to your reader. That way anytime someone begins talking about your company on Twitter, you will be notified via your RSS reader.

5. Polls/Surveys

This is one of the most useful functions of Twitter - the ability to gather feedback via polls, surveys or even by asking a simple question. As a small business owner I have utilized this function many times to locate tools used in my business, find a solution to a web site issue or even learning business sense from those more seasoned than myself.

Using polls and surveys on Twitter can also help you to gather useful intelligence on your products and services. Just be ready for criticism which if you make good use of, can be utilized to improve your product and/or service offerings.

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These are just a few ways businesses are using Twitter. I'm sure there are many other uses and would love to hear from other business owners either on how they are using Twitter for business or possibilities they have yet to explore. Please use the comments system below to share your ideas. Oh and finally if you would like to follow me on Twitter, I'm right here.

David Wallace is CEO and founder of SearchRank, an original search engine optimization and marketing firm based in Phoenix, Arizona. He is experienced in search engine optimization and marketing, pay per click and pay for inclusion management, directory submissions and web site design usability. David is a frequent contributor to various search engine related forums, an active editor of popular directories such as GoGuides.org, Joe Ant and Zeal and has had several articles published on industry related sites. Since 1997, David along with his company have helped hundreds of businesses both large and small increase their search engine visibility and customer acquisitions.

Welcome to Twitter Stuffs

Right now I am replying to twitter emails, my usual morning has alot of this.

In a few days I will be doing some interesting ork, as this is a new blog, give me time to get set up ;)

In the meantime follow me on twitter .

garret35

Peace