Microblogs are a new form of social media that allow you to keep in close contact with friends and coworkers in real-time. You can send entries or tweats if you use twitter from your mobile phone. There is a limit of 140 characters or less with microblog sites. The most obvious advantage of microblogging for business purposes is the ability to know about small problems in real time and provide solutions to your customers, or coworkers working in the field.

The official purpose of a microblog is to answer the question “What are you doing?” This is hard to get past at first. However, you don't have to specifically answer that question. What if you're working on a new project, or you have a new idea? Tell your clients what you're working on via your microblog. Ideally, the perspective client should already be lined up to buy it. The upside of the “what are you doing” question relates to schedules. You can instantly know if a coworker or client is unavailable with a simple tweat or you can find out when the person will next be available. This saves valuable time and increases the productivity of your business.

Another great feature for businesses is “follow me”. This is similar to your ability to have friends, or regular readers of your blog. If you have a group of followers, you can inform them as soon as your new project is finished.

Does your business or service have a website? If so, consider using microblog services to promote it. In general, this won't generate as much traffic to your site because of the character limit, but it can get you more traffic than you have now. Since many sites allow you to build a friends list, take advantage of it by promoting your microblog. When you set up your new microblog, let all the people on your contact list know about it. Make sure to put a link to your website on your profile. You can also “friend” every user you see on twitter, but this practice isn't considered good netiquette. The user has no idea why you are friending them. Friend requests are important because the users cannot see your profile and link otherwise.

Another good way to promote your site is to synchronize updates with both your microblog and website. Every time you update your blog, your friends will know to come read your new update at your microblog. IF you own multiple websites, Twitter will allow you to create an account for each of them, but consider how much time it takes to maintain each account. It is easier to put all links, and updates together on one account.

Whether you are an employee or business owner, let a microblog grow your business today.