Social networking is the new forum for professional relationships. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, blogs, Del.icio.us, Digg, and countless other tools are the new “gotta have its” for marketing and making connections of all kinds.

Twitter has been getting a particular amount of attention from the professional world. A Google search yields “approximately” 567 million sites. Global Twitter usage more than quintupled in 2008. (Citation) Surprisingly, usage is nearly the same for all age groups but those under 25. So, what’s it all about?

Twitter is hard to understand until you try it. “Why would I want to know what some guy is having for breakfast?” some will say. Well, if you follow a lot of people who just post what they had for breakfast, then shame on you. My experience is this: I follow a lot of people with good ideas or who spread the news about interesting events, articles or viewpoints. It can seem like a lot, but no one made it mandatory that I read it all. I stay generally aware of things and can explore deeply if and when I’m so inclined. Like learning a language, “fluency” in ideas comes from immersion rather than observing from afar. If you need more reasons, here’s a piece from Lifehacker on “Six Ways You Should Be Using Twitter (That Don’t Involve Breakfast)“.

“But I’m too busy for all that!” you may cry. I sympathize. In my case, though, I just scan and/or contribute to Twitter during those interim slices of time that might otherwise go unused. And if I’m busy, I just back off and pick it up later. No one is grading me on this. When it’s a useful tool, I use it. When it’s not, I skip it. Our tools are not in charge, we are.

It’s hard to write the “Dummies” manual for something that’s in the process of evolving, as so many social networking applications are. Does that mean there’s no help? By no means. Here’s your –

Quick-start guide to Using Twitter

1. Set up your free account at Twitter. Pick a username that will be easy for your readers to identify as you. If you’re developing a professional presence, your company’s name or your full name are good choices.
2. Go ahead – post your first “tweet” in the box that asks “What are you doing?” It’s okay to just let it be something like, “Checking out Twitter.” Remember, you’re limited to 140 characters or less.
3. You’ll quickly realize that posting a web link can eat up most of your 140 characters. There are a number of utilities that will produce shortened URLs for you. I use HootSuite – it’s a nifty tool that lets me track click-throughs for the URLs I post and allows me to delay posts so I don’t necessarily stack 8 things on top of one another in people’s feeds. But there are many Twittter tools out there – you’ll eventually find some worth trying out to see what suits you.
4. The fun begins: start looking for good people to “follow”. Everything these people post will show up on your Twitter page in chronological order. Click the “Find people” button in the upper right corner and search for friends, publications, bloggers you read, etc. If they’re on Twitter, you’ll find them and be able to look at the kind of things they write. If you’re interested, click “follow”. (Don’t worry, although they’ll get a message about their new follower, you can “unfollow” them later without them being notified that you’ve pruned them.)
5. Think about what you want to present to the Twitter-world. Do you want your followers to be up to date on your sciatica? I didn’t think so. But perhaps you want to pass on helpful resources, advocate for a position, draw people into dialogs, keep your customers up-to-date on new developments, or attract readers to your blog. Keep your intended audience in mind as you post. I suggest beginning by posting 3-4 times a day to establish your presence and give people an idea of what they’ll receive if they follow you.
6. If you refer to someone else on Twitter, use “@twittername”. This will produce an automatic link to their twitter page.
7. Likewise, if you want to send a private message to someone who follows you, you can preface your tweet with “DM” for Direct Message. The post will be seen by them only.
8. If you see something good, pass it on. It’s called “retweeting” where you credit the original poster preceded by an @ sign, and it usually looks something like “RT @rozdieterich “Guy #3 – An example of the creative insights that make Seth Grodin worth watching. http://tumblr.com/xmf239sv0” It’s a plus since you’re passing along good material, and you may get thanks or a follow from the original tweeter.

Next steps: How to become Twitter-wise

• If you find someone whose input you value, see who they follow. They may be interesting to you as well.
• If what you’re about to tweet is offensive, boring or without value, don’t. If you’d be sorry to see your tweet on the front page of your newspaper, don’t. (And here’s another cautionary tale about regrettable tweets. Avoid doing likewise.)
• It’s fine to have more than one twitter account if you want to have both a professional presence and a personal/chatty one.
• Some swear by desktop clients to help organize the people you’re following into groups, etc. The two front-runners, in my view are TweetDeck and Seismic Desktop, but there are dozens. See what you think.
• Twitter does not archive tweets for more than about two weeks. If you want to keep a record of a link or refer someone to it later, it may have disappeared (as I learned to my displeasure as I was searching for my original “how-to-twitter” tips). [Hint: The way I tweet something and also keep it for future reference is to set up a tumblelog in Tumblr. You can elect to have Tumblr posts linked to your Twitter account automatically.]
• Don’t feel that you have to courtesy-follow everyone who follows you. It’s a nice gesture, but there are some people who are following random large numbers of people in hopes of attracting you. Some I ignore. Sometimes I block them if there seems to be a possibility of maliciousness, though those folks are few and far between.
• Hashtags: Hashtags are labels to identify post content for people searching for topical material. Although Twitter’s search is a great way to find out what is currently being said about a hot topic, hashtags are handy for many uses. For instance, as I write, there’s a lively discussion going on under the tag #hcmd09 where participants, in real time, are discussing health care issues. P.S. If you want to find interesting people to follow, search hashtag #followfriday. On Fridays, some Twitterers suggest people they find worthwhile. Perhaps you will too.
• And, of course, don’t forget to follow me on Twitter!

UPDATE: Here’s a good article on how to decide whether your business should have a Twitter presence.