Like many people who are now using Twitter, I initially wasn’t impressed with what I saw. A 140 character message limit? Lots of people talking about what they ate for lunch, what they wanted to sell you, or how sick they were? First impressions aren’t everything, but my initial look at Twitter — before I joined the service in November 2008 — made me think it was a flash in the pan, a communications tool offering up bite-sized opinions and TMI from people with far too much time on their hands.

How times (and opinions) change! Over the past two and half years my opinion of Twitter has improved considerably, and I now consider it the most useful social media tool available to a journalist/blogger, marketer, or public relations practitioner. I’ve worn all three of those hats at various times, and Twitter is useful for all of them.

A caveat: I’ve found that the following tips and strategies work well for me. They may not work well for you, and you may not even agree with some of what I’ve listed here. I’m open to feedback, however, so feel free to add some comments to this article or to the individual blog posts linked below.

How to Use Twitter

• Twitter FAQ (coming soon)
• Using Twitter: Choosing a Follow Strategy
• Using Twitter as an Editorial Tool (coming soon)
• Using Twitter as a PR Tool (coming soon)
• Using Twitter as a Marketing Tool (coming soon)