I couldn’t start 2009 without writing about Twitter.

If you’ve been online more than 10 minutes, you’ve heard that Twitter is THE social networking tool of the century.  Hype?  Nope.

Twitter is a bonafide tool for relationship building and marketing, built within the confines of a seemingly impossible 140 characters. If you can’t say it short, you can’t say it.

In a Twitter-nutshell, Twitter allows you to “follow” the people you feel are worth reading, and people can follow you if they think your Tweets are worth following.

The smartest Twitter gurus Tweet a brilliantly balanced blend of humor, links to something of interest on their own site, a link to their newest blog post, or a link to something interesting they’ve read online.

Is Twitter a platform for blatantly pushing your services on your followers? Not unless you want to be thrown out of the virtual party

My Top 3 Twitter Services

1.  Although you can Tweet directly from your Twitter account, my favorite Tweeting platform is Tweetdeck. This Adobe Air desktop platform. Tweetdeck allows you to take all of your Twitter feeds and break them down into categories – making it a lot easier to read your favorite Tweeters.  It also creates a category for displaying direct messages and replies.

2.  I’m also in love with TwitterButtons. Sure, you can put Twitter’s default blue bird as a link on your own site, but why not jazz it up a little? You can see my Twitter button of choice up there in the right column. I know. . . there are so many great Twitter apps – why bump one of them in favor or TwitterButtons? Because I’m a sucker for a fun photo.

3.  And speaking of photos and photo sharing,  you have to use TwitPic. This free service lets you share photos on Twitter with your friends–with no signup required. You can also post pictures to TwitPic from your phone, TwitPic API, or through the site itself. Twitpic works great with Tweetdeck.

I’ll do follow-up posts on other Twitter apps – but wanted to get my Top 3 out on this beautiful first day of the New Year.

You’ve probably been reading about Twitter for Business all over the Internet. Some of the big-time marketing gurus swear their success is due, in part, from their (non-spammy) Twittering.  What do you think?

I’ve been playing with Twitter for several months and my experience is a positive one. I landed a client via an online colleague’s "followers", and have recently picked up several followers who are interested in my writing, marketing and consulting services.

If you’ve never Twittered, get over there and open a free account.  Then have some fun with these Twitter tools: Twitter Widget: Adds a card to your Twitter photo, name and latest post. (here’s a sample) Ten Best Twitter Tools for WordPress: Includes scripts to Tweet from your sidebar or add your RSS feed to Twitter. Twitter Fan Wiki:

Dozens of cool applications for Twitter. Includes tools like Outlook add-ons, desktop Twitter clients, and Firefox add-ons.