Twitter Tips for the Engaged Entrepreneur

Today's business executive is overwhelmed by interactive tools, ranging from Web sites to Facebook to LinkedIn to blogs, that can be used to market products and services.

Now comes Twitter, a micro-blogging tool, made famous by actors such as Ashton Kutcher, who tells more than 1 million people a day what he's doing at any given time. My clients are asking me what Twitter is and how it can help their businesses.

Twitter allows people to broadcast messages of 140 characters or fewer to others who choose to "follow" them. More than 10 million people use Twitter.

Joel Comm, author of the new book "Twitter Power" (John Wiley and Sons 2009), does a good job of explaining what Twitter is and how to use it as a communication tool.

The following is an interview with Comm.

What is the profile of a Twitter user? The latest statistics are strong toward middle-aged professional males, though recent adoption by high-profile celebrities and influencers such as Oprah and Ashton Kutcher have brought a younger and female demographic to the site. I believe usage will continue to broaden across both age and gender, while appealing to a tech-savvy middle- to upper-middle class.

What is the difference between blogging, micro-blogging and Twitter? In order to have your blog or micro-blog entries viewed, people have to visit your site. Because Twitter members "tweet" (post) to the same site, there is a community and network that individual blogs and micro-blogs don't enjoy. It's much easier to have your message seen in a community context of a large site such as Twitter.