There’s been a lot of talk recently about the popular micro-blogging platform called Twitter.  It’s an extremely simple platform that allows its users to tell their “followers” what they’re doing in just 140 characters.  That’s right.  Just 140 characters.  That’s about 1 or 2 sentences.

Essentially, it’s just like a blog feed.  You’re updating your status on an ongoing basis and people can subscribe to the feed, keeping up with your activities.  Now, picture a grandmother who decides to follow the daily activites of her grandson by subscribing to his Twitter feed.  She could even push her feed to her mobile phone and get ongoing updates about her grandson’s life.  I’m sure her peers would be impressed.

I have a friend who has a huge following on Twitter and he uses it to be a thought leader within his field.  Although the vast majority of your followers do not read all your tweads, some do and they will know you are an active member of the Twitter community.  But the point that most people do not read all the tweads they have subscribed to is an important one.  For many, the people they choose to follow are little more than popularity contest.

Those who benefit the most from platforms like Twitter are those who use them in creative ways.

Another micro-blogging platform that’s gaining popularity is Utterz.  It differs from Twitter because it allows text, photo, audio and even video content.  And one of the nice things about Utterz is that it feeds easily to Twitter.  That means you can post your content on Utterz and populate your Twitter account at the same time.  Utterz also has a great little widget you can include on your website.  So by using Utterz, you can populate your Twitter feed as well as your website.

Using the same methodology, Twitter has a Facebook application.  That means your Twitter feed can keep your Facebook profile updated.  Okay, so let’s put it all together.  If you push content to your Utterz account, it will feed to Twitter, which will then update your Facebook profile.  As well, Utterz will update your website via the widget.  So you can touch 4 different audiences all by using this configuration.

By the way, Utterz and Twitter are both free.  Yes, it’s true.  They don’t cost a dime.

So for me, I push audio content to my Utterz account and you can see their blue widget on the left-hand sidebar of my blog.  If you click the play button in the top left-hand corner of the widget, you’ll hear my most recent 10 audio Utterz, played in reverse chronological order.  Utterz also feeds my Twitter account and updates my Facebook profile.  And all it requires is a 2-minute cell phone call to their automated submission line.

One of the best ways to evaluate the quality of content people are pushing to their Twitter accounts is to compare the number of people they are following with the number of people following THEM.  There’s a simple reason.  When you follow someone, they get a notification.  And in most cases, they turn around and follow you back.  You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.  But if someone follows you without that reciprocation, it shows the content is drawing people all on its own.

You are all welcome to follow me on Twitter.  And if you do, you’ll see that I have a lot more people following me than I have people I am following.  The reason?  I try to push good valuable content.  And you can evaluate it for yourself by listening to my most recent Utterz on the widget.  If you like what you hear, please subscribe to my feed.

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