Hello All,

The phenomenom Twitter. What is it? A social network? A mini blog as you are limited to 140 letters? I am not sure yet.

You remember me talking about it in August? I thought this network is all about people saying what they have for breakfast, lunch, when they take a poo, how much they had to drink on a Friday night etc.

You remember this parody? Yes, I remember it well. Actually more funny  since I joined Twitter. How come? Why did I join?

I thought, why not give it a go? First, I used it for updating my Facebook status. Using Twitbin, an add on to Firefox, I can update what I am doing whilst checking my emails or surfing the web.

And, a lot of other people do the same. This is the interesting bit about it. You not only find me and others serving the web and sending links to new topics of, in my case, online marketing, search marketing and Buddhism, but you also find news sites sending you breaking news with links. So, I am always up to date what is happening.

I can see our competitors announcing new services, or I can see the Google linking to new add ons for Gmail. How awesome is that. It replaces some RSS feeds and it also gives me up to date information what is happening. You can use it on your smartphone or blackberry too.

How does it work? Simple: you get an account and start following people. I only follow 74 people and already think that is too much to read and follow, but there are people out there following well over 10,000 others.

Then, get engaged. Twitter to others, make comments, join the discussion:

• @Twitterfriend I liked the link you send and I think we should meet for beer
• Anyone else at Hong Kong Airport, why not go for diner
• @Twitternofriend Your link is boring, but check out this one

And soon people will follow you. 41 followers I got. But, I am not twittering that much really. And, most of the stuff I twitter about is not that interesting for others.

Who can help you with twitter?  The guys from Hubspot have done some awesome webinars on it and can tell you a lot about social media marketing.

So, join Twitter today and don’t forget to follow me!

Volker