Twitter Woo Hoo!

Twitter, a free social networking and real time micro-blogging site looks set to take over 2009 as a prominent means of communication between bands and their fans.

Twitter allows users to send a 140-character message, or "tweet", to a site where anyone can read it, though it will only be sent directly to those who have chosen to "follow" you.

Updates are displayed on the user's profile page and delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. Senders can be selective and restrict delivery to those within their circle of friends.

Users can receive updates via the Twitter website, SMS, RSS feeds, or email, or through applications such as Twitter Mobile and Facebook.

Twitter's first prototype was built in two weeks in March 2006 and launched publicly in August of that year.

It has only been a formal company since May 2007, but its growth has been unpredictably rapid – it is reportedly struggling to keep running as a growing number of people sign on, sending more and more ‘tweets’. By September 2008, Twitter had in excess of 5 million visitors, amounting to a five-fold increase per month.

Recently, high profile artists such as Sonic Youth (pictured above) and Little Boots have sent updates to fans via Twitter from the studio whilst recording new albums.

You can view Twitter sites without signing up and, through links to real time link tracking at Twitturly.com, people can determine the most linked-to and frequently discussed issues.

Outside of popular music circles, the newly inaugurated President of the United States Barack Obama has a Twitter site and news outlets such as the BBC are adopting Twitter sites as a means of reporting breaking news developments and hosting URL links to stories as they occur.

Have your say! Do you have a Twitter account? Has Twitter already overtaken other social networking and content sharing sites such as Digg? What are the best features of Twitter and how can it be useful to your band or project?