Twitter has changed lives. Not all lives, but some. We’ve seen twitterers in dissident groups across the globe use twitter to organize themselves and communicate their causes with the outside world. We’ve seen natural disasters covered in a way that is as revolutionary to us today as was the telegraph coverage of Krakatoa to our predecessors back in 1883.

But what about the rest of us? Most of us will never be confronted with an armed militia or see our towns wiped out in a matter of seconds. Having inspired everything from biting parody to unrestrained adulation, twitter may be ever-present, but how do communications professionals (both traditional and non-traditional) remain relevant in the twittersphere where the noise has become deafening? Nothing new here, actually… content remains king.

Although content does not remain an isolated factor, the idea that one’s follower number reflects one’s influence is at best suspect. If Twitter’s services were isolated to twitter.com, then that might be accurate, but we have seen an explosion of twitter-related services. Take Tweetdeck, for example. You can group those you follow into whatever classification you desire, and can thus prioritize which twitterers you really want to follow. In short, just because I’m following you doesn’t mean I’m actually reading a word you write. Add to that the fact that $80 can buy you 1,000 disinterested followers, and well… those numbers just don’t mean as much as many people might think.

So is there any use in advising clients to set up a twitter account, or is it just a waste of resources better used elsewhere? Of course there is. The numbers don’t lie, and there are a lot of folks active on the twitter platform. BUT… without engaging content, your twitter feed is just about as attention-grabbing as the old direct-to-fax travel deal fliers we’ve all seen clutter the trash bin. What makes engaging content? What makes a successful twitter account? Here are three things that clients should monitor instead of their follower numbers:

Speed: Twitter conversations move at an astounding rate. In less than 2 hours, the popular geek-centric program “Attack of the Show” shot to the top of twitter’s trends, thanks to a concerted effort on the part of its twitter feed to do exactly that. Anything from media opportunities to breaking stories are happening right now. If you’re not paying attention, you can easily lose out – a tweet late is a tweet lost?? The best remedy for this is to find a twitter service that works for your needs. You need to be able to integrate twitter into your everyday life. If it’s not working for you now, find another platform that will.

Diversity: We have all seen a massive uptick in twitter noise (aka: spam) as the platform has gained popularity. Even well-intentioned companies can end up with spam-like twitter feeds, due to a lack of diversified content. A successful twitter feed has a personal touch to it, so as much as people may follow you in order to get breaking news on niche topic areas, if you cannot engage them on an emotional level as well, you’ve just become part of the noise. If a client has a twitter feed, encourage them to assign one real person to head it, and pepper it with pictures of their daily grind, links to stories they’re reading, or any number of mundane details that a real person would experience. In other words, treat your twitter feed sort of like the mullet… all business up front, but a party in the back. Just look at @McCainBlogette for an amazing twitter feed that frequently generates serious press coverage.

Engagement: Once again, the fundamental difference between the OMC (old media cartel) and Web 2.0 is two-way conversation. If you’re not talking to your followers by answering questions, retweeting or reaching out to them with a comment, you are missing the point. Online audiences don’t follow bots, and they’ve stopped listening to top-down communication methods. If you don’t want your potential audience to tune you out, engage with them.

But what do you think? Is the role of content overblown? Do people need to track their followers diligently, even resorting to tracking unfollows? Let us know in the comments below!

Many clients and personal friends just don’t “get” twitter. Are you one of them? Well, it’s important to know that it’s not all “what I’m having for breakfast” or “song of the day” posts. In short, you might be missing valuable opportunities.

The key when it comes to using twitter is that you should visit the homepage very rarely. Use it to sign up, and clean up your followers list from time to time, but other than that, you should use one of the myriad twitter services out there to offer you the full range of twitter interactions necessary for a successful feed.

Why? Because twitter conversations move at an astounding rate, and unless you’re a quickdraw on the refresh button, you may soon realize that you’re barely keeping up, let alone contributing to a conversation. Sarah Silverman star @SteveAgee promoted his new twitter feed through a stunt: He promised to read the names of his first 5,000 followers live on webcam once he reached 5,000… in his underwear. It took minutes to accomplish.

In order to have a successful twitter feed, this kind of speed is essential. Anything from media opportunities to breaking stories is happening right now. If you’re not paying attention, you can easily lose out. The best remedy for this is to find a twitter service that works for your needs. We all have our own personal preferences for our daily dose of technology consumption – BlackBerry vs. Apple or browser vs. desktop applications. Don’t try to fit a square peg through a round hole, but rather find what fits into your daily routine, and use that to tweet.

I’ve included a short list of twitter services people here at Brodeur Partners use – and why they use them. We’d love to hear what you’re using and why, so please let us know what works for you in the comments section below!

BlackBerry

Twitterberry is a simple twitter interface for your BlackBerry device. Use your BlackBerry’s browser to go to twitterberry.com, and download the application from there. What Twitterberry may lack in multimedia capabilities, it definitely makes up for in its simplicity and reliability. I have yet to lose a tweet in the ether, and there are not multiple screens to shuffle through. You literally click on the icon and start typing. Couldn’t be simpler.

iPhone

Tweetie is a multimedia powerhouse for twitter users. They’re upgrading the application all the time, but as of right now, you can *very* easily take and send pictures, watch for trending topics, and even track people close to you. And yes… it is available at the app store.

iGoogle

For some of us, iGoogle is the panacea to our daily communications challenges. While we need to track blogs, monitor offline stories, have our calendars handy AND have easy access to email… iGoogle also has a set of varied twitter tools you can integrate into your iGoogle page. TwitterGadget is our favorite due to its simplicity and well-thought-out interface. Once you spend a few minutes looking at what buttons do what in their help section, you will be amazed at how much functionality can fit into such a small space. To begin using twittergadget, click on “add stuff” in the upper right-hand area of your page, and then search for “twittergadget”.

Web Browser

HootSuite is a great option for people who have a web browser always open on their desktop. Plus, for those of us with multiple accounts to manage, hootsuite does a brilliant job of divvying up the screen space and clearly displaying which account you’re posting to. Tweeting to one’s professional account about last night’s beer pong match is – shall we say – generally considered bad form. Use hootsuite to avoid any confusion on that front, though it may require a little more of a time investment to understand than the ones above.

Desktop Application

Tweetdeck is for those people who prefer to have twitter off in its own little home, instead of taking up valuable browser memory. You launch it from your desktop, and … well … it is amazing. A little complicated, but amazing nonetheless. Tweetdeck allows you to group your contacts so that you do not have to read the less-than-interesting posters that can clutter your twitter feed. Know someone who constantly tweets about what they’re having for breakfast, but whom you’re forced to follow for some reason or another? Put them in your “fail” group. Tweetdeck is the one application that offers you so many options on how to structure your twitter experience – it has earned its reputation as the go-to twitter application for many twitter veterans… in as much as you can be a veteran of a service with such a short history.

Text Message

This is how twitter started… as a text messaging platform for RSS Feeds (for the tech-savvy folks out there). If you go here, twitter provides an easy step-by-step guide on how to tweet using a non-smartphone. So, for those folks who are not going to upgrade anytime soon, but still want to contribute to twitter, this is the option for you.

More on twitter to come soon…