If you have not heard of Twitter, chances are you will soon. Twitter is a communication tool that allows individuals and organizations post small updates which can then be seen by “followers” of that person or organization. Followers can choose to receive Twitter updates via the web, instant messenger, or text message. Twitter is free and it takes a few minutes to create an account.

So how can Twitter be used in business? It’s a very popular tool for connecting people in a social setting but more and more businesses are using Twitter for business communication, as well.

Technical Status Messages. Twitter can be used to convey information about the status of systems that customers rely on. A great example of this is the way that 37signals uses Twitter to broadcast updates on system outages on their products (such as Basecamp, which is used by SpinWeb). If Basecamp is down, 37signals sends out a quick “tweet” which says something like “Basecamp is down for about 10 minutes… we are working on getting it up and running as soon as possible. Sorry for the problem!” This nice little message is delivered to my cell phone which quickly keeps me in the loop so I know what’s going on. It’s quite handy.

Product Updates. Another great use of Twitter is to send product updates. For example, if your company writes software and you release a new version, you can send out a quick message announcing this and encourage your customers to download the latest version from your web site.

Blogging. You can connect your Twitter feed to your company blog, which means that whenever your write new articles and post them to your web site, they will be announced on your twitter feed. Everyone who is following you will then see a note about your new blog post.

Public Relations and Media. Media professionals can use Twitter to send real-time updates from events that they are covering. Hosting a fundraiser? Post updates on money raised throughout the night. Covering a political rally? Post notes and developing stories.

Remember that most Twitter users receive updates via text message directly to their cell phones. This makes Twitter a very powerful way to communicate instantly to a large group of people. Careful and thoughtful use of Twitter can supplement your business communication in a very efficient way.

Interested in following SpinWeb on Twitter? Look us up and become one of our followers by clicking here!