It was instrumental in the historic election campaign of President Obama and actress Demi Moore recently averted an attempted suicide through this rapidly expanding phenomena.

The world it seems is all a-twitter with the latest micro-blogging internet service, which allows a bin man in Northampton to communicate with celebrities and statesmen across the globe.

Despite running for more than two years since launching in San Francisco, social networking website Twitter has only flown into the UK mainstream in the last six months and visitor numbers have increased by 1,000 per cent.

Everyone from Stephen Fry to Al Gore is tweeting online and businesses have recognised it as far more than just a chat room. Twitter can be used as a form of instant news alert and a marketing tool and users can access their Twitter accounts via mobiles phones and other portable devices.

Critics of Twitter often criticise it for being nothing other than a narcissistic platform but it can actually be a valuable way to spread news and information instantly. News of the plane crash in New York's Hudson River first emerged from survivors' Twitter updates.

Meanwhile the Chronicle & Echo has its own Twitter profile giving followers heads up on breaking news stories on the Chron website (http://twitter.com/ChronandEcho).

Sky News recently appointed a Twitter correspondent and the Guardian website has an entire page dedicated to just Twitter stories.

Northampton design and marketing company Engine Creative (http://twitter.com/EngineCreative) started using the site three months ago and haven't looked back.

Project director Andrew Wise said: "Some of us have our own personal Twitter accounts and have been using it as an expression of what we are up to. We decided to test the water to market ourselves and set up an Engine account. We have used Facebook and MySpace and they didn't work for us."

"We put up a range of things about what we are up to, news stories of projects just completed, what music we are listening to in the studio or something happening in the industry. We have also found it really useful as a networking tool."

Engine Creative recently worked on a Daventry regeneration project and used Twitter to conduct research and find relevant contacts and information.

Andrew added: "We also use it a lot to get industry news. You can get the news that is relevant to you, all in once place."
So how does Twitter work?

In short, it's a micro-blogging service that allows people to inform their friends or anyone who is interested (called 'followers') about what is going in their life in the space of just 140 characters. It is essentially a stripped-down version of the status update section of Facebook.

But while Facebook is mainly billed as a social networking tool to keep tabs on for people you already know, Twitter markets itself as the place to go to speak to the people you actually want to know. You can follow celebrities, your favourite band or your favourite comedian.

It is also possible to place photographs, audio and video footage on the site and links to other websites.

Andrew explained: "With an iPhone it is so easy to take a photo and tweet it and it's done."

The fastest growing group of tweeters (Twitter users) in the UK is 35 to 45 year olds which also makes it attractive to people who find Facebook a little immature.

And it is becoming increasingly popular with businesses and institutions rather than just individuals wanting to chat with friends.
The University of Northampton has been officially tweeting since early this year (www.twitter.com/UniNorthants).

Communication officer Claire Bicknell said: "Our followers are a mixture of students, graduates, staff and just people generally interested about the university.

"We use Twitter as an instant form of communication to connect with our followers; we may be telling them about an event which is happening on campus that day or one for their diaries which is coming up, student/staff good news, breaking headlines about the university, opportunities that they can get involved with or just generally wishing them a good break on their Easter holidays or commenting on the weather – it helps to contribute to the relationship and rapport between university and our students/staff/local community."


LILY'S TWITTER TRIAL


I detest Facebook. There is simply nothing worse than being 'poked' by a former classmate, who you never liked in the first place, and being asked to be their friend. It is false, irritating and like being in the playground all over again. "If I wanted to be your friend, I would have stayed in contact with you - now go away!"

So it was with some reluctance that I signed up to Twitter to see what all the tweeting fuss was all about. At first I was utterly confused, yelling to my colleagues 'how does this work? what does this do? how do I find you?'. But within 10 minutes I had it sussed and realised it was really all very simple.

And as much as I hate to admit it... I was hooked.

The beauty of Twitter is that you can choose who to follow and who to ignore. If someone wants to follow you, that's fine, but it doesn't mean you have to follow them back.

I decided to follow Al Gore, but I doubted very much that the former 'next American President' would give a flying greenhouse gas that I just wrote an article about the Northampton shoe industry.

However it does take a while to hone your following list as there are endless possibilities. Should I follow Demi Moore (no she is dull and waffles on endlessly), David Lynch (his LA weather updates are genius), 10 Downing Street (which eerily starts following you back automatically) or just stick to friends and colleagues (who talk about making cups of tea and take photos of their breakfast)?

In the end it was my love of film that was my Twitter salvation. I hooked up to various film magazine and film websites to get all the latest news, gossip, pics, reviews and videos on the movies.

I no longer have to trawl through dozens of individual websites trying to find a particular story. It all comes through to Twitter, I can click on the headline or description of interest and I have instant news.

And if I have a query about a story chances are the writer will Tweet me back an immediate response. Conversely I can put up links to my own film related stories and reviews and start a debate with like minded people on whether Arnie will make a cameo appearance in Terminator Salvation.

If you have a particular hobby, an insatiable appetite for news or just can't resist finding out what Britney Spears is up to today then chances are Twitter is the birdsong for you.