Twitter is one of those things that people are always asking me about… “How do I use Twitter to get me more business?” ….. is normally the first question that people ask.

Many photographers and business owners are signed up to Twitter because they think they should be….. not not using it for what it is ….a social networking tool, but Twitter can also be a wonderful way to bookmark useful information.

Since Twitter’s launch a wide array of URL shortening tools have become available and for me there’s are great way to quickly ‘grab’ a page of interest.

Here’s a few URL shortening tools:

• http://bit.ly
• http://tinyurl.com
• http://shorl.com
• http://tiny.cc
• http://budurl.com
• http://tr.im
• http://snipurl.com
• http://is.gd
• http://cli.gs
• http://tweetburner.com

Bringing the social element into sharing links really begins when you’re sharing other people’s links or pages. This can be done with a URL shortening tool or a simple retweet.

If I’m sharing an article or web page there’s a couple of ways I like to do it…….

Firstly I always look for a ‘Tweet’ button like the one we use on this site – http://tweetmeme.com – WordPress Plugin Download.

What I like about TweetMeme is that it automatically generates an @ mention connected to the author of the blog post. It’s nice to be told that someone likes…. or at least… wants to share your post or article and this is where the socialising begins.

To keep track on your @ mentions www.socialoomph.com offer some handy tools including digest which you can receive via email.

If the site doesn’t have a Tweet button then I’ll always look for a ‘Follow me on Twitter’ link and add in a reply or use a shortening service like http://bit.ly.

Most of the information I find and share on Twitter is via my iPhone and often I’ll simply retweet a post I like to look at later.

There are of course dozens of Twitters apps these days but here are some of the better ones (click links to go to iTunes store) :

• Twittelator
• Twitterrific
• Echofon (formerly Twitterfon)
• Tweetsville
• Tweet Deck for iPhone

But why retweet and share…………surely not just to be social?

Well that would be fine but as I mentioned, it’s a great way to bookmark little bits of information that you pick up. If you’re simply glancing at some updates on a train or someone sends you a link, putting them all in one place, on a platform you’re comfortable with, can be very handy.

There are of course hundreds of different ways to bookmark whether it be in your internet browser, or a social media platform such a Digg or Stumble Upon. The problem (with all of these application really) is that there is a danger of spreading yourself a bit thin.

For me it makes sense to use Twitter. You have an abundance of Tweet buttons on blogs and it is of course a hugely popular network.

The reason why it’s so popular is because it does what it does very well….. and that’s sharing.