Twitter is a truly unique channel which both mimics and complements existing communication media.

Twitter is:
• public and published — like a blog
• conversational and concise — like text messaging
• available via a subscriber model — like RSS or Atom
• a social networking tool — like MySpace or Facebook.

In 140 characters or less, I regularly update my Twitter status via text message — which, in turn, automatically updates my Facebook status. This blog entry will be announced to those following ActiveMinds on Twitter, and simultaneously broadcast via our RSS feed.

Some call it “micro-blogging,” but this label is misunderstood. The Twitter FAQ (and certain Penny Arcade comic strips) give the impression of an extended Facebook status — where the egocentric can broadcast even the most mundane day-to-day occurrences. However, spend just a few minutes watching TwitterVision, and you’ll realize its true nature as a global conversation. As a user, I can be selective about what I’m “hearing,” and I can listen and respond to anyone in the room. More impressively, this conversation is growing rapidly. The Twitter user base has doubled since January to 1 million users, with an impressive 20% daily usage rate.

Others have written about the multitude of marketing opportunities this new medium provides, and its growing popularity does nothing to hamper this. As an information broadcast tool, Twitter has no entry cost for your business and a simple subscription model for your audience. Even better, so long as you provide content that interests this audience, they are captive. Your contribution to the conversation appears as an alert in the desktop clients, iPhones and web browsers of those listening. Compare this to a banner ad or a headline alongside hundreds of other messages in an Inbox or RSS aggregator.

Like any technology, Twitter is no silver bullet. The primacy of content does not change – it’s king, right? If anything, the terse nature of Twitter makes it easier to update, but it also makes it more critical to ensure your 140 characters are well spent.

So, if you’ve got it, why not tweet it?