Twitter is an interesting idea.
Its basically a computerized global text, just like you do on the phone.
Its not as restrictive as face book (limit to 5000 people), however it also is not as personal, but its a great way to keep up, by tweeting.
That's what the message is called.
You can also Dm, direct message.
You basically have followers and Following.
Followers are people that follow you, or that see your messages.
Following are people you follow, or receive messages from them.
So its a form of networking, a lot of time with people you don't know.
As with any form, of networking, I don't recommend selling straight off the bat.
On Facebook and twitter, a lot of people hit you between the eyes.
Like all forms of networking, a relationship needs to be formed.
So a good model I have learnt is 30% social, 60% information and 10% promoting sales.
But first you need to build your list.
So here are a number of great programs that are available free.
That will help you build your list.
Tweetdeck: a great way to keep an overview of your tweets, direct messages etc are all displayed and you can reply here.
Ping.
fm This allows you broadcast your tweets, across multiple networks, incl.
MySpace, Facebook and of course twitter.
So one entry goes a long way Tweetspinner, is on of my favourites.
You can track keywords and follow people that tweet about these keywords.
Also you can set ratios and follow people back quickly.
Twubble is another way to follow friends of friends.
Its time consuming but good These have allowed my in 3 weeks increase my followers by 3000.
Not bad! There is also a theory that Twitter have a magic number of 2000, you need to keep your followers and following balance within 7%.
I don't know if this is true, but look after it, just in case.
If you have more followers than you are following, twitter loves you.
These are the tools I have used to go from 40 follows to 5000+ in five weeks.
I know people tell you that they are other ways, this is how I actually did it.
happy tweeting