I admit it. When first introduced to Twitter I quickly passed it up because it was hard for me to find value. I thought it was just another way to communicate your status like “just had pizza for lunch” …. and what is the value in that? However, after much debate, I forced myself to tweet, and use Twitter until I understood exactly what was happening. That was 2,000 tweets and about 600 followers ago… Now I get it. I can easily point out the value to coworkers, friends, and most importantly clients. In the past 3 months Twitter has seen incredible growth and it is not just because @Oprah joined. There is an incredible number of businesses, media outlets, brands and peers out there sharing much more than what they just ate for lunch and the coolest part it is in real-time. Let me share a great example:

While out at a very important meeting the other day I had an unfortunate accident. There I am sitting in the boardroom of a large financial institution as my favorite Sharpie Pen leaks all over my hand… I frantically try to start wiping it off on my Moleskine trying not to make a scene and interrupt the presentation. My hand turns black and my pants catch a bit of permanent ink but I manage to stay unnoticed. Shortly after the meeting I tweeted @sharpiesusan, the head of Social Media at Sanford, about my situation including a picture of the damage. WIthin 24 hours I had a response from her and a person from customer relations will be contacting me. WOW. All of this in the matter of a few hours. What a great way to control brand perception and create word of mouth advocates for your product, all through Twitter.

I have multiple other stories from a personal thank you from Tony Hsieh for ordering shoes through Zappos.com to interacting with the Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks).

If you have not started to tweet you should. Below are some tips for things you can tweet if you are new to Twitter.

@ / # - Twitter is a great way to participate in realtime conversations about current events, industry news, and everyday banter. You can reply to users with the (@) like - @DesignSobriety or follow conversations by using a hashtag (#) like #followfriday. Keeping your eye out for tweets to respond to and hashtags you can participate in will help grow your network. Most importantly you can start your own hashtag for conversations your would like to track. Check out the most popular hashtags here.

Pic - Showing off pictures from live events, interesting parts of your day, where you are will be interesting to your followers but also act as a chronicle of your events. It is fun to look back at past tweets & pictures.

Tip - Twitter is a great way to share some quick tips about something your doing, whether it is work related, or about a hobby people will find value all in 140 characters.

Links - Where do you find information? ideas? news stories? Share the links that you are reading.

Review - This might be a quick review of an article, a book or a news story. You could include a picture.

Thought - This can be anything - Like that pizza your eating for dinner.

Reading/Watching - Suggestions for your followers on what to read and watch - magazine articles, blogs, books, TV shows, movies, and TED Talks are a couple options.

Suggestion - This might be a great restaurant, vacation spot, or other consumer related decision.

More Links For Twitter Help:

Mashable Guides to Twitter

Twitter For Business