Twitter for the un-initiated is a social networking service that allows registered users to communicate with friends, peers, customers and strangers – all within 140 characters or less.

How can it be used in business?

We’ve put together five simple ideas that we hope will prompt you to think about how it relates to your organisation or even joining in this phenomenon. To sign up visit www.twitter.com .

1. Use it as a customer service tool. Use Twitter to invite feedback on your organisation, its products and services; research what’s being said about your company (in near real time) using a service like Twitterfall

2. Start a new way of marketing. Twitter gives you another voice – not just as a short message broadcasting service but as a way of demonstrating subject leadership and interacting with your customers.

3. Start a new way of prospecting. If your potential prospect customer are online Twitter could be a great way of starting off new relationships with people. It’s an almost instant way of communicating – just remember it’s mostly a public service, so whatever you say could be bouncing around the internet within minutes!

4. Use Twitter as an easy step towards setting up your own blog. Twitter can be an excellent way to kick start your journey into the world of blogging, primarily because you don’t have to plan out a whole article – just 140 characters. This tiny message is easier to construct and it’s easier to plan in the time to send out a regular tweet – daily if required.

5. Use it to leverage group think. Start off with encouraging the use of twitter internally and benefit from a wider source of knowledge and experience. As the number of collective followers increases, so does your potential pool of group think intellect.

If you need help in bringing together your thoughts on how Twitter could help your organisation/company/school – talk to us.