Note: Twitter account listings follow style used to reply on Twitter, @name.

By now you’ve probably heard of Twitter, micro-blogging and the new wave of online social marketing.

However, you might not be sure what it is, how it works or how to use it as an effective marketing tool for your business. Jumping into Twitter definitely takes time, even for technologists and avid bloggers, but many local businesses have taken the plunge and are effectively using Twitter for promotion.

Twitter is a micro-blog because it allows users to post short (140 characters) public messages (tweets) and follow other users’ tweets. Tweets can be posted and followed via twitter.com, RSS feeds, e-mail, third-party applications and SMS messages from mobile phones.

Twitter is a challenging medium for many. Most approach Twitter with concerns about making the private public. They wonder, why would anyone want to know what I am doing all day?

Even David Pogue a New York Times technology columnist, had problems getting involved (Article: http://tinyurl.com/8gzqs8). He shares his journey as a Twitter newbie and makes an important point about using Twitter effectively: “Don’t tweet about what you’re doing right now.” Even though Twitter.com asks, “What are you doing?” Twitter is a tool for communication and collaboration.

Over the past year, Twitter has more than tripled in size from an estimated 900,000 in January 2008 to more than 3 million at the beginning of January ‘09. This dramatic increase is largely due to increased media coverage of the service and the presidential election.

During the election John McCain (@johnmccain) used the service sparingly, posting a couple dozen links to campaign ads and news articles. Barack Obama (@BarackObama) actively used the service and became the most followed person on Twitter with more than 165,000 followers. Obama’s staff used the service to post more than 250 links to information on his site, videos of speeches and the announcement that Biden was his running mate.

Jen Reeves (@jenleereeves), a fellow at the Reynolds Journalism Institute, new media director at KOMU (@KOMUnews) and long-time local Twitterer (yes, actually a word for Twitter users), remembers seeing the first influx of local users when CNN covered a story about a student arrested in Egypt, who was ultimately freed after letting friends know about his arrest via Twitter (Article: http://tinyurl.com/a4ab7u).

Reeves is a huge fan of Twitter and an avid user. In an arena where she does not stand out like an on-air reporter, Twitter helps her to connect to the community and stay heavily involved. Twitter friends are the source of most of the interesting news she receives.

“Twitter is what people were hoping RSS would be,” Reeves said. “But it goes beyond RSS because you can have conversations at the same time.” To illustrate her point, during the recent Hudson River plane crash new agencies were reporting on posts and photos from people tweeting from the ferries assisting the victims (Article: http://tinyurl.com/9azobw).

Reeves reacted quickly, posting links and twitter feeds about the crash. As a journalist, she aims to “help sort information and provide more context. Twitter is a great way to do that.”

While news agencies have found their place in Twitter, so have businesses.

Locally, Shakespeare’s Pizza (@ShakesPizza) has been twittering since July and has found it very effective. “It’s free,” said the Big Cheese, Kurt Mirtsching, “so we’re going to use it.”  With roughly 350 followers, Shakespeare’s posts come every couple weeks and are only things, as Mirtsching put it, “worth bothering people for.”

Their point of sale system allows them to track the success of posts that blend immediate deals, witty comments and requests for follower involvement. such as: “$1 Slices. At the parking lot door. Tonight only.”

At the same time, Mirtsching recognizes the importance of creating a relationship with customers by requesting feedback and finishing the posts with comments like: “You have been warned. Beware The Stache.”

After learning about the technology at a tourism summit in San Francisco in October, Megan McConachie created the Twitter feed for the Columbia Convention and Visitors Bureau (@ColumbiaMOCVB). Created as a resource for visitors to Columbia, the feed is prominently featured on the CVB Web site (visitcolumbiamo.com).

McConachie updates the feed with local variety and uniqueness. “The hope is people from outside Columbia are looking, and we want to show off what makes Columbia stand out as much as promoting local businesses.”

Even though I’ve used Twitter for a long time (@JSesh), I’m still learning how to use it effectively. Most of the time I use Twitter to follow the Tribune (@columbiatribune) and Missourian (@CoMissourian) feeds, but recently I have been more actively involved in collaborating with colleagues and friends (especially while writing this article). Only after several days of research and interviews do I feel like I have an understanding of its practical uses.

This past week, via Twitter, I found a blog discussing the five stages of Twitter acceptance (http://tinyurl.com/9hu8eq). I have to admit, I found it to be a pretty accurate depiction of the experience I had learning to use Twitter. For a long time I was in denial about the possibilities of Twitter as a tool.

Although at first Twitter might seem like just another way to consume time on the Internet, it is a free way to connect with a large, active user base ready to interact. Twitter is about collaboration and giving people a line into your business. Keeping active by posting useful information and responding to followers helps keep clients and potential clients engaged and active in your business, and it gives them the feeling that they are involved. Spending a few minutes a day tweeting might be the best online marketing investment you make.

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