Admit it. On the news, in the office, in your favourite program… you have heard that your workmates are using Twitter, that famous chefs, singers and tv presenters have been tweeting?  Has the world gone crazy? Many answers come to my mind here.

Put in simple words, Twitter is the way of letting the world know what you are up to (or what your business is up to). It is a free social networking and micro-blogging service but if you are new to tweeting here is the very basic information you need to start familiarising with Twitter:

- Tweets: Messages (known as tweets) which you can post in your Twitter account. At the same time, you will have access to millions of tweets posted by other users which might interest you or your business.
- Twitter followers: Other Twitter users who have decided to follow your tweets (because your messages are original, because they know you/your company, because company/user x follows you, etc.)

Remember: the more interesting and original your tweets are, the higher the chances of increasing the number of followers. If you tweet for business, having a Twitter account and keeping it up-to-date can be key to move your business forward but it is also important to choose carefully who you are going to follow.

Attracting quality followers will add value to your Twitter account as well as to the social network you are starting to expand. Let´s try the following formula:

If company/user x is being followed by company/user xx then their tweets/messages have got to be interesting and it is worth checking out their products. For this reason I, company/user w, I want to follow company/user x too.

Does the above formula sound too complicated? Then simply keep in mind that Twitter is the current version of a very old way of advertising: word of mouth (but online!). If your product is good, if your message is original, say it loud!… but if you want to increase the number of followers ask yourself the following questions:  why should people be interested in what you have got to say? How are you adding value to other companies/users?

If you are thinking business, Twitter may or may not be the best service for you but the best way to find out is trying it out yourself. Do you want to explore its possibilities? You can start now: create an account and start tweeting today.