For those of you who are brand new to the "interweb", welcome! Those of you who have been around for a bit have almost certainly heard of Twitter. Launched in July 2006, Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to post their latest updates. An update (known as a "tweet")is limited by 140 characters and can be posted through three methods: web form, text message, or instant message.

The start-up that defined the term has simply exploded in popularity over the last year. The growth numbers are staggering! After starting 2008 with only around 500,000 unique monthly visitors, Twitter saw its most dramatic growth in the second half of the year, picking up more than one million (34.7%) additional visitors (U.S.) in December alone, (this Dec. spike due largely to the company's increased exposure from the presidential election, where President Obama used the service during his campaign and there was running tweet commentary the night of election by many high profile people). Here's the chart from Compete.com:



The audience grew 813% in one year, to total 6 million unique visitors in a month... and they have no revenue model... no way to monetize this traffic! Rumors have been swirling for months in the blogoshpere about how Twitter is going to make money, with ideas ranging from in-stream & SMS advertising to membership fees. But founder Biz Stone has made it clear through his own blogs and - of course - tweets, that these options are not currently on the table.

The upshot of such a huge growth in web traffic is that it creates a network effect for its users. The more people use Twitter, the greater the abundance of information and opinions that can be shared, the more value it creates to every use. And businesses are taking notice.

Companies like Dell and Volkswagen already have Twitter groups and dedicated Twitterers to grow their brand awareness and address any chatter that comes through Twitter regarding their brands. As an example, a guy named MaxTheBeetle - working for VW - started following me and replying to my tweets when I complained about the lack of grip handles in the back seat of my new VW CC, (I said I have nowhere to hang my drycleaning, and he told me to put it in the trunk. bah!). Dell uses Twitter to give its followers exclusive sale opportunities and product releases. In an article in InternetNews from December, Dell claims to have generated $1 million in sales directly from Twitter. Now that's not a whole lot in the grand scheme of Dell's overall revenues, but it shows potential and growth.

Twitter is quickly becoming part of the national consciousness and lexicon. Clearly the "early adoption" stage is behind us, and the service is going- or maybe it already has gone - mainstream. On his show, Bill Maher has commented on members of congress Twittering live during President Obama's first State of the Union Address. Jon Stewart made it the centerpiece of a bit that made fun of the general public latching on to trends that young people adopt.

Twitter is here to stay. Log on, create a profile and start Twittering people... your contribution will help increase the value for everyone!

Stay tuned for announcements on possible revenue models for the service....