Twitter is an amazing place to connect with people for new ideas, joint ventures and partnerships you may not find in your other business activities. By following people in your own industry, you can find inspiring ideas, opportunities to help others and the camaraderie of connecting with people who understand the ins and outs of what you do. Every field has specific highlights and lowlights that only others in that same field can relate to and understand. When you get to know people who struggle with the same issues you have, you have the opportunity to encourage each other and offer suggestions for working through the tough stuff. Many people in business online work in a solo enterprise, which can become extremely isolating and stifling. Twitter can be an excellent remedy for this affliction - which can lead to greater productivity and success.

There are several ways you can find people to follow on Twitter. Starting from your home page, you can look to your right and find the link that says “Everyone”. This is called the public timeline and it will show you tweets from absolutely everyone on Twitter. Read through these until you find one that interests you. Then simply click on the username or profile picture to go to that person’s home page. Read through some of their tweets, go to their website, and read their bio - whatever you need to do to get a sense of who they are. If you like what you see, click the follow link under their picture and voila, you are following someone!

Another way to find followers is to use the “Find People” link. This is at the top of your homepage, in the navigational links. There are four different options in the Find People section.

Find on Twitter:

Here you can search for people by their user name or their real name. This is great for searching out specific Twitter users.

Find on Other Networks:

This feature lets you import names from your Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail or MSN accounts. You do need to enter your email password, but it isn’t stored and you won’t be spammed by Twitter.

Invite by Email:

You can enter email addresses here and send them a pre-written message inviting them to Twitter.

Suggested Users:

This little feature will offer you some possible users to follow. Many of these names are celebrities on Twitter - it may not do a whole lot for your business networking goals, but then again, you never know. You might just enjoy what they have to say!

Answering the Ever Popular Question, “What Are You Doing?”

To post a tweet (or message) on Twitter, select the Home link from your navigation links. Fill in the box that asks “What are you doing?” Remember, you only have 140 characters to work with so make it count!

Type in your answer letting others know what you’re up to. Click the “Update” button. You message has now been sent and others will see it.

Replies & Direct Messages

One of the best ways to use Twitter is to reply to other people’s tweets. When someone asks a question or makes a comment you can answer or respond to, use the @ sign before their username to reply to them. For instance if you wanted to send a reply to a user named RichyRich you would simply type:

You can also click on the small arrow at the end of the user’s tweet you are replying to. When you reply to someone in this way, others can see what you are saying as the reply shows up on the Tweet timeline.

So, what do you do if you want to send a private message to someone without everyone else on Twitter seeing it?

If you want to carry on an exclusive conversation with one person for more than a few tweets, it’s a good idea to use the direct message (DM) feature. This allows for privacy (great for things like getting email addresses, phone numbers, etc.) from the entire Twitter universe (Twuniverse).

You can go to your DM folder from your Twitter home page by clicking the link on the right hand side of the page. Once you’re there, you will see a drop down list of the people you can direct message.

Note: The only way this feature works is when both parties are following each other.

The other way you can direct message someone is by typing the letter D, leaving a space and typing the username - without the @ sign preceding it in the text box of your home page. Example: D username

Re-tweeting (RT)

One way to interact on Twitter is by re-tweeting something someone else has said. Re-tweeting is simply repeating what another user has said, preceded by an @ and their username. If you want to re-tweet something RichyRich has said simply type the following:

Re-tweeting helps you out in two different ways:

1. It provides content to your followers.
2. It gets you in with the original tweeter.

Re-tweet fairly often, but keep it for things that are truly worth repeating. Again, don’t use this method of communication as your sole type of tweet, but mix it in with your other posts.

In order to spread the word even more about you (and your business) is to provide your followers with quality information that will have them re-tweeting your messages to their followers!

One of the reasons Twitter is so popular is that Twitter is so popular! In other words, so many people are using Twitter that it is rapidly becoming THE place to connect on the web. In fact, mainstream media has started using Twitter- and talking about it. CNN and Fox News both discuss Twitter and use it as a way for viewers to offer input on various stories. In the recent Presidential election, President Obama’s campaign used Twitter as part of their massive campaign efforts - with obvious success!

Twitter’s popularity comes from its ease of use. It’s also quite addictive! Many people who questioned whether Twitter was worth the effort find they love the fast-paced interaction of the site. Twitter is all about immediate connections and real-time relationship building. Human beings are social animals who thrive on relationships and interaction with each other. Twitter provides immediate contact with others- no waiting for return emails or finding people on various Instant Messengers. You can jump on Twitter any time, day or night, and connect with someone immediately. Often, just taking five or ten minutes to tweet with others is all it really takes to build your followers, bring people to your website or break through a struggle.