Many small business owners are still looking at Twitter as a waste of time. What is the point of getting connected socially to Twitter anyway? How will that affect my business?

First of all, what is Twitter?

Wikipedia defines Twitter as a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users’ updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length.

As a small business owner, we are our brand builders. In many ways, we are the brand. Getting potential customers know you as a person and not just as a business person can make you and your company more likable. This and the opportunity to interact with your buyers with short messages are what make twittering worth-while.

Twitter Safety

Having some personal details exposed to the public somehow gives some of us the creeps. Here is a safety tip to ensure that your twittering doesn’t get you into danger:

Be careful with what information you make public. You want to be sociable without opening up all your personal information. Here are some of the things that you should not divulge:

• Do not tell people where you are going. Instead, if you want to share some insights of your life, you can mention where you just came back from.
• Do not let people know if you are going away for holidays or a business trip. You don’t know who you might be calling attention to when nobody’s home or if the wife is home alone.
• Do not let the world know if you live alone or when you are alone, unless you want to attract unexpected visitors.

Don’t fall victim to spammers and scammers by:

• not logging in when you click a link in Twitter that leads to a page requiring you to log in.
• If you are following Twitter Trending Topics and Twitter Replies from Strangers, be very cautious about clicking any links.