Twitter is more than just “I’m brushing my teeth”.

I recently came across a new social network set up by the marketing guru Seth Godin aptly named Triiibes. While open by invitation only until October, I was privileged to be selected as one of the lucky individuals to gain access to this closed network. There was a forum posting recently entitled “How Useful is Twitter?” and I was surprised to read that while I find the microblogging application to be informative and entertaining, there are people who are unsure of its applicability. This is entirely understandable and the replies helped illuminate a topic that I’d like to address.

For marketers interested in microblogging, Twitter can be a pretty simple and resourceful mechanism to get your message across. Think not of it as a means of finding what other people are doing, but as a tool to export news and information. So if you have a PR issue to address or if it’s the latest news on a product release, then you can take advantage of the system. Following people, on the other hand, is much more than finding out what they’re having for breakfast that day, what they bought at the store, or the news of their latest date. In fact, you can keep track of all sorts of news, from current events, product releases, troubleshooting, and basically set up an informal relationship with that person.

There are a lot of brands on Twitter these days, from Burson Marstellar to JetBlue and many others across an array of different industries. Keeping tabs on these brands and startup applications can result in finding out interesting information, but if you have a question or problem, the Twitter community will gladly open itself up to help you out.

So don’t rule out using Twitter as an application for business purpose. It’s become so much more than simply what you’re doing in your personal life. Create one for your brand or company to show the community what you’re doing and get involved in the conversation. There’s a reason why Twitter has been termed “microblogging”, because it’s exactly that. It’s a mini blog of your activity. If your company has a blog, why not a Twitter profile? Sometimes it’s much easier to list 140 characters per post with short messages of what’s happening instead of a long-winded blog post.

But don’t take my word on how to use Twitter. There are many resources that show you the true marketing power of Twitter and one of them I found through a connection on the microblogging platform (just to reinforce my point about the interesting things you find on Twitter). Be sure to check out the Twitter Handbook when it’s released or view it’s site to learn more about how to use it in a business savvy sense so you’re always one step ahead of the game. You can contribute your own thoughts by direct messaging their authors on Twitter or simply sign up to receive your free copy of the book (soon to be published). There’s a blog on the Twitter Handbook website so be sure to check that out.

So get started on microblogging and don’t brush off Twitter that quickly before realizing it’s powerful potential. Hey, if some of the major brands in the world are using it, then there just has to be some business rationale to it too, right?