After it gained a foothold among the digital-media enthusiasts at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival in 2007, Twitter quickly became a playground for techies and geeks. But over time, people from all walks of life have discovered Twitter and embraced it. Twitter allows a user to communicate effectively with one person or many, and the benefits can work for anyone.

Twitter has become a quick and easy way to stay connected to family, friends, and coworkers. People at all levels of all sorts of business can use Twitter to easily interact with customers and potential clients and get real-time engagement and feedback.

You'll probably want to use Twitter to talk to people whom you know in real life, such as your family and friends, as well as to meet some like-minded people. But you can also meet some very unconventional people on Twitter. Sometimes, the unconventional twitterers are the most interesting. On Twitter, you'll encounter everyone from celebrities (see Figure 6-1) to local religious leaders and great-grandmothers who blog. You never know who you may find from day to day, which is part of Twitter's charm.

Figure 6.1. Martha Stewart has her own Twitter account.

But the biggest asset of Twitter is the sheer mass of everyday people who want to share their thoughts, spread the news, and network. You can probably discover at least one new thing from someone on Twitter every day that you log in.

Plus, as superficial as a stream of 140-character messages may seem, the Twitter community has evolved into a real way for real people to connect in the real world, too. You can easily set up meetings and events through Twitter on fairly short notice, so many twitterers find themselves turning their online connections into offline friendships and business relationships fairly often. Both introverted and extroverted people can really benefit from this environment.

So, what noncelebrity people can you find on Twitter? At first glance, you may think that everyone on Twitter is in the technology or marketing industries in some way. The core-base of twitterers who formed Twitter's initial user group still tweet away, and they're still some of the most prolific users. But you can also find thousands of people tweeting who are just like you, your mom, or your best friend from high school — in fact, your mom and your best friend from high school may already be on Twitter.

Many companies have found value in Twitter as a way to build awareness of their brand name, strengthen relationships with customers, provide better and more immediate customer service, and boost sales. Companies' presences on Twitter range from individual Twitter accounts belonging to CEOs and employees, to corporate accounts for the brand run by teams of marketing or PR representatives.

Here are some of the most famous examples of companies that have gotten some positive buzz for their presence on Twitter:

In fact, companies in all kinds of industries are using Twitter effectively. Here is just a tiny sampling of some companies that do business related to food, drink, and nightlife:

These retailers tweet:

These publishing companies have Twitter accounts up and running:

If you're looking for travel info, check out these Twitter accounts:

For a sampling of resorts and hotels on Twitter, check out the following:

If you want some resources on financial matters, business, and budgeting, have a look at these accounts:

Thousands and thousands of businesses large and small are using Twitter. For more information, you can read Pistachio Consulting's TouchBase blog (www.touchbaseblog.com) or browse the extensive Twitter for Business bookmarks that Pistachio maintains on the TouchBase link blog (http://delicious.com/touchbaseblog). Easiest way to keep up with both? Twitter, of course. Follow @touchbase to receive a tweet when either of these resources is updated.

Politicians have been taking to Twitter as a means to connect with their constituents and their fellow politicians — as well as to give a more intimate look into their lives at a time when transparency is one of the most positive buzzwords around. The Democratic Party was the first to jump on the bandwagon, and many users started exploring Twitter in the midst of Barack Obama's tech-savvy and successful presidential campaign. But many prominent Republicans are now onboard as well, as evidenced by the hashtag #tcot, which stands for Top Conservatives on Twitter.

Here are some political groups and figures to get you started:

Many people are hearing about Twitter for the first time because they've seen it on entertainment news shows such as Access Hollywood or The Soup. Celebrities use Twitter, too! The celebrities who use Twitter do so for different reasons:

In many ways, Twitter functions as a sort of impromptu fan club for tech-savvy celebs both renowned and up-and-coming. In the weeks leading up to publication, Oprah Winfrey (@Oprah) and other world renowned household brands have started to sign up. Rumor has it that 1.5 million new people reached Twitter.com in the weekend after Ashton Kutcher appeared on her show and Oprah started to tweet.

Here are a few more Twitter accounts you may want to take a peek at:

Plenty of Twitter accounts syndicate material from all kinds of online non-Twitter outlets: event listings, blogs, newspapers' Web sites, and so on. These accounts fall into a sort of gray area on Twitter: Most of them are quite welcome in the site's community, and, in the case of news outlets such as The New York Times (@nytimes) and CNN (@cnnbrk), make up some of Twitter's most-followed accounts.

Cable news outlet CNN has nailed it when it comes to using Twitter for more than just headline syndication, letting Twitter really enhance its broadcasts. Their newscasters not only use Twitter accounts to both interact with viewers and relay breaking news stories, but anchor Rick Sanchez (@CNNRickSanchez) fields questions from Twitter followers in real time on his on-air program, Rick Sanchez Direct. Interestingly, though, CNN's most followed account, @CNNBrk, was developed by a fan, James Cox (@imajes) who later worked cooperatively with CNN and eventually sold it to them for an undisclosed amount.

Here are some news and media Twitter accounts you can check out:

Sometimes, users or organizations create a Twitter account so that the community can feed it with updates. These community-created Twitter accounts can be automated (through the use of a script or bot) or moderated. But either way, these co-authored accounts gather the content from many Twitter users, sometimes anonymously. This aggregated stream of tweets can incorporate anything from stories to poems to confessionals, and the rest of the Twitter community can subscribe and follow the results.

One of the first of these community Twitter accounts was 140Story (@140story), tiny stories told in 140 characters. Other Twitter accounts have popped up that aggregate tweets into short stories, like a giant Mad-Lib.

But no list of community Twitter accounts would be complete without SecretTweet (@secrettweet). Similar to the popular Web site PostSecret (@postsecret), SecretTweet gives Twitter users a place to share their deepest, darkest secrets on Twitter's public timeline without divulging their identities. Twitter users can get something off their chests and read the secrets of others. SecretTweet has been called everything from addicting to brilliant to sad.

Small Business, Big Community: NYC's @shakeshack

Small businesses wanting to use Twitter to build loyalty, take note. Here's what Jason Schwartz (@jschwa), the gentleman who implemented the @shakeshack bot (see figure), has to say about the Twitter community built by twittering fans of the Shake Shack, one of New York City's most social eateries.

The heart of Silicon Alley is designated by the ShakeShack, a burger joint in Madison Square Park. Lunchtime lines stretch around the Manhattan refuge for the fabled burgers and shakes. It is the favorite meeting place of NY-based tech startups to discuss business, social media, and how to push the medium forward.

To facilitate tweetups (impromptu meetings facilitated by Twitter), the @shakeshack bot was created. This is how it works:

1. Someone (say, me, @jschwa) decides to head to the ShakeShack and tweets

   @shakeshack I'm in line, come join me for lunch

2. The @shakeshack bot then automatically retweets this message, saying:

   Via @jschwa I'm in line, come join me for lunch

3. People who follow @shakeshack see the tweet and join their colleague, who is likely close to ordering by the time they arrive.

The @shakeshack bot is regularly used to report the length of the line, organize snow ball fights, and as part of the networking fabric of Silicon Alley (a nickname given to the area of Manhattan where a concentrated number of tech startups are located).

Hundreds, if not thousands of NYC area twitterers are now more aware of the Shake Shack, and it's become a must-visit for Twitter enthusiasts when in NYC for meetings or pleasure.

For the curious and technically-inclined, the code for the @shakeshack bot can be found here: http://smr.absono.us/2008/04/anatomy-of-a-twitter-bot.