How to suceed in Twitter without really trying

Deceptively simple, the micro-blogging site Twitter asks only one question of its users: What are you doing? The response to this question, known as a "tweet," is then sent out to your network of followers and everyone is up to date on each other's activities. However, you didn't come here for a tutorial (which coincidentally can be found here).

I suppose I expected Twitter to be more complicated. Yet, like so much of today's social media, it is grounded in a profoundly simple concept. The basic notion of keeping your friends aware of what you're up to is similarly illustrated in other social media (see: Facebook below).

So, who's using it? Apart from the obligatory social media buffs and perhaps the overly narcissistic, Twitter is being used across the board. This includes corporations and even politicians. Today, during my internship at General Motors, I was able to discuss topics ranging from ethanol to safety measures with users by tweeting back and forth.

It seems Twitter has even come into play under particularly dire circumstances. This article explores how it was used in the midst of the recent earthquakes in China - besting even the speediest media outlets in on-the-scene reporting. In this video, a security consultant advises using Twitter to alert your family members in the event of a disaster.

Ultimately, it's unclear if Twitter will ever be commonly used as an alert device in the face of burglars, forces of nature, etc. However, one thing seems more likely. It's going to be around until the fat lady tweets.