For those who tuned in to this morning’s Chris Moyle’s Radio 1 Breakfast show, you would have heard him talk about the new social networking phenomenon that is Twitter.

Twitter, the new (less than a year old) social networking tool, allows people to write short messages/updates (of up to 140 characters) on where you are, what you are doing, your thoughts/comments on pretty much anything you like, and was the hot topic on this morning’s popular Radio 1 show. Andi Peters and Phillip Schofield also joined in the discussion, both praising the new craze, similar to that of the Facebook status update. 

This micro blogging social media platform can be used via the web, mobile phones, and instant messaging software, and is becoming increasingly popular because anyone can use it, it is free, and it spreads word faster and further. Breaking news and communication on the web is more important now than ever, and Twitter feeds this hunger for instant news.

According to Twitter facts blog spot, Twitter.com is now the 291st most visited website in the UK, with internet traffic to the site increasing by 974% over one year, predicting Twitter users will reach the 7 million mark by mid February 2009.

More celebrity fans of the Twitter include Jonathan Ross who recently spoke about ‘tweeting’ with Stephen Fry on the BBC’s ‘Friday Night with Jonathan Ross’. Fry is a big fan and sends regular updates, further explaining in another interview with the BBC it suits his travelling, busy lifestyle and is a convenient way of keeping in touch…and has even just passed the 50,000 mark of followers!

markettiers4dc recently got tweeted about on a campaign for fiji tourist holiday 09 gig, including Twitters from msntechjane, WhichBudget, and Travel Magazine telling readers “In less than 24 hours, live, interactive travel TV show: Fiji: Halfway is Paradise" including a link to visit the site.

So is Twitter a personal or work thing? Well, it can be used for both – personal branding like making friends, social updates, even as a ‘to do’ list, or just for fun. Professionally, it can also be useful to keep up-to-date with news/industry updates, set up meetings, professional networking, ‘live’ coverage, or perhaps to drive traffic to websites for example web chats. You can see another recent markettiers4dc campaign, family relations, featured on Twitter here.

Twitter can therefore be used as a key marketing tool, with research from Twitter facts stating that users are clicking on the following types of links:

17.6% of Twitter’s downstream traffic goes to entertainment websites
10% of goes to News and Media websites
14.6% goes to social networks
6.6% to blogs and finally
4.5% to online retailers

However, not everyone in the public eye embrace Twitter, with MP Anne Widdecombe, and proprietor of her own website The Widdy Web, recently saying in The Sunday Times "What a damned silly waste of time". So you may not find it useful, but there are also issues of privacy and accuracy – same as any article or blog, but more at risk because it is instant. And of course, public announcements of where you are and when/what you are doing etc is personal choice but a potential risk – or as mentioned by Stephen Fry, not great when trying to avoid journalists!

So with Twitter now making the news regularly, it is set to really take off….perhaps even overtake Facebook? So if you want to become a part of the world of Twitter then install Snitter to your desktop. Get ‘tweeting’.