Twitter: It's In the Way That You Use It

Earlier this month, Google CEO Eric Schmidt called Twitter a "poor man's email system" and a "note phenomenon" - an impressive innovation, yes, but lacking a "full offering" of services nonetheless.

What Schmidt fails to understand is that Twitter's beauty lies in its simplicity, brevity and immediacy. People use Twitter to learn about events in the lives of family members, friends, colleagues, celebrities and other key influencers as they happen.

And for such a simplistic model, Twitter has evolved into a multifaceted social media⁺ tool with almost as many uses as P Diddy (@iamdiddy) tweets per day.

Twitter is a powerful resource for people who want to glean broader insights from the community at-large. The search feature enables users to see who is tweeting about a given topic, and at what frequency. Topics marked as "trending " are those most tweeted about at the time of the search. It's the Google of user generated content, in real time.

The benefits of Twitter vary with the type of user. For the individual, microblogging is an easy-to-manage means of connecting with family, friends and other users with similar interests.

Many individuals also use Twitter to meet others in their professional sphere, using tweets to share industry insights, discuss best practices and build out their networks. This benefit has become increasingly important during economic downturn, as millions of professionals re-enter the job search and seek out innovative ways to secure employment once again.

For brands, Twitter has taken the form of a powerful marketing tool. Companies can keep their customers up-to-date by announcing corporate information, product launches, or even special sales via Twitter. They can also drive followers to their corporate blog - another social media resource that has become imperative to maintaining a brand's image.

Schmidt is right about one thing - Twitter does have a lot less "stuff" than traditional forms of social media and email. But what Twitter lacks in "offerings" it more than makes up for in its unprecedented ability to aggregate thousands of ideas and deliver them in real time. Not bad for a platform that limits its text-field to 140 characters.