What is Twitter? For me, Twitter is all about conversation. I don't use it as a micro blog, I think that concept is patently ridiculous. I do not need to know what Ashton Kutcher, or Ned Shmeckle in Idaho, for that matter, had for breakfast. I have always been a forum devotee, and Twitter can be considered an evolved forum, a real-time conversation shared by thousands of people. The thing that separates Twitter from a traditional forum is ease of use. Its fluid nature eliminates the netiquitte requirement to catch up on the conversation before jumping in. As a result, it can be less time-consuming. Like a short story as opposed to a novel, it's easier to tear yourself away and get back to work…assuming you can do that. I often have trouble disengaging because it really is fascinating.

What good is Twitter?  Social media types use it to spam followers with links to their blogs, websites, and products, equating click generation with cash generation. Does that work? I think it does, actually, for now. People are sick of traditional advertising, sick of spam, sick of in-your-face tactics.  They want opinion news and entertainment instead. They want their own opinions validated. A blogger builds readership with consistency and trust. Ideally, he offers a unique perspective on whatever subject he chooses to write about, and he must have a unique voice. If he's just pasting in news stories and offering no perspective, he will not earn a loyal following.  Of course, controversy also breeds interest, we may have evolved beyond bullfights, but we still love a good catfight…which is why outrageous people like Perez Hilton make big waves.

For businesses using professional bloggers, the return on investment is clear. A popular blogger not only has his own following to depend on, but can also depend on his followers advertising for him. Twitterers will tweet out any blog post they find interesting, and a percentage of their followers will re-tweet (send the same message on to their own followers) and so forth. Exponential click factor.  While this may not manifest in immediate profits, it does put the business name, and the exact location of the business website, in front of a targeted audience of potentially hundreds of thousands over time. Revenue stream from clickthroughs can depend on direct sales or on reciprocal advertising. Either way, traffic = money.

So are you being used? Yes and no. Yes, you are the traffic, and yes, businesses are depending on you to become a customer, or at least to add to their affiliate ad-sharing revenue. For those looking for ad renevue, audience is power. Independent bloggers often survive that way. But you get value for your attention, so it is a reciprocal relationship. 

Twitterfail. Some people just don't get it. They use Twitter as a social media marketing tool, but they offer nothing in return. They tweet out something that lures people to their blog, but it isn't a blog, it's a sales pitch. These type of people often use a service to gain followers, thinking that numbers will help them, but it's unlikely that will work in the long run for three reasons. First, most of the people who use those services are all the same kind of social media marketers, the kind that forget the social part of the equation, making it one big circle-jerk of people trying to sell each other. Second, a pretty big percentage of their non-marketing followers will end up unfollowing – betrayed by the one-way mercenary nature of the relationship. Unless value is offered in exchange for attention, all credibility is quickly lost. Third, people are just over it. Spotting a phony online is as easy as spotting an insurance salesman at a cocktail party. Maybe he won't be wearing a green plaid suit like Herb from WKRP in Cincinatti, but the huckster personality is just as loud.

What does this mean to you? If you're wondering how all this can relate to you and your own tweets and blog, there is potential value even if you're not trying to sell anything. We all have something valuable to bring to the table, and we all want to be heard. The web offers each of us a chance to tell our unique and often extraordinary stories, and to give voice to those who might otherwise feel insignificant. You have control over those you interact with on Twitter. You can speak out with your veto power and block anyone who does not interact, pushes an aggressive agenda or is so strongly opposed to your opinions that interaction becomes unpleasant.

You can also use your unique voice for a cause. I blog because I'm a writer and that's what I do. I blog here at growingbolder.com because I believe this website and the people behind it have a strong and positive message for people worried about the future. That message is simple. You are not too old. Get out there and do stuff. Take charge of your own destiny. Reinvent yourself.