Twitter’s very nature attracts chatterboxes, connectors, social sneezers. Twitter has become a social network of influentials precisely because these people understand the value of being heard, and conversely the value of being up to date with the latest trends.

It’s just a natural extension of blogging. The same people who derided blogs for being a waste of time (after all, who wants to hear about your whiny thoughts) are once again entirely missing the value of this tool. Everything I wrote about why you should be blogging applies to twitter, except with a higher sense of immediacy.

If your company is not twittering about product releases, you’re missing out. If you’re not using twitter to engage your userbase directly in conversation, you’re missing out. If you’re not using twitter to complain about bad customer service, you’re missing out. And if you’re captured in an egyptian jail and you don’t have twitter you’re missing out.

By now it should be clear, twitter is not just a place to tell people about what you ate for breakfast, but a very significant tool for businesses and individuals looking to build social capital and engage in the most direct form of marketing currently available on the web.

So coming back to the revenue issue…clearly twitter is a very valuable service for companies like Southwest, Zappos, and Woot. They are making money from twittering by attracting new business. So why shouldn’t twitter share a piece of the pie? Facebook’s dismal CPM rates and the research findings that suggest that most ad clickers are middle aged women imply that ad revenue on twitter will likely be largely irrelevant. But I bet Southwest, Zappos, and Woot would be more than happy to pay for a premium service. Twitter should come to these companies with a log of outbound clicks and show them all the business they’re driving. I bet that’s worth something. Hmm….

This is all well and good, but I just don’t care…I don’t even care that the room is just teeming with big name bloggers and “web 2.0 celebrities”. To call what’s going on in Jason’s room an echo chamber is a gross understatement. On the other hand, the weather is nice outside. So I think I’m going to ride my bike and take some photos.

So here we go..

I got a job

Being a software developer and entrepreneur, keeping a blog and sharing with the world things I discover, create, or enjoy helps me gain exposure. Before you’re hired for your next job, you will be Googled. Your blog shows your prospective employers how you think, work, and play.

My blog was at least partially responsible in my employer’s decision to hire me. Making a hiring decision is easier when you feel you ‘know’ what the person is like, and it’s much easier to get a feeling about whether a person will be a good employee when you read their blog, than if you have nothing to go on at all.

Putting your work and thoughts out there correlate with several qualities: ability to take criticism, communication skills, and valuing the sharing of knowledge. Not having a blog or other outlet for your work therefore implies that you are lacking in at least one of those departments. If your new employer is choosing between two people, don’t you want to be the one with the blog? Think about it.

I gained a voice as a consumer

When big companies try to screw you over, you have very little recourse. The better business bureau is a largely powerless to do anything, customer service reps tend to be powerless to help, etc. Blogs are a powerful way to stand up to companies who do something bad, and actually be heard.

When I ran into some problems with Comcast service, I turned to my blog as a publishing platform to give me a voice. In under 24 hours Comcast called me and put me in touch with high level account reps that were able to solve my problem – they had read my blog! To really have an effect you want to have readership like Scoble, but even a small blog like mine gets some search engine exposure and thus has the power to be a publishing source.

Not only can you voice your opinion but you can draw a crowd and build momentum. When I first got my Helio Ocean I discovered many things good and bad about it. Because I was a pretty early adopter, my blog about the Ocean’s shortcomings became a good place for people who didn’t have a blog to join in and voice their opinion. To this day I get the occasional comment trickling in there. Not only did I get to voice my opinion, but I gave an open forum to like-minded others.

And if you’re a business out there who doesn’t subscribe and read blogs relevant to your market – you better get with the program. If you don’t connect with your market and understand their needs and wants, you can lose business in the blink of an eye. You don’t want your company name to come up first on some popular blog that rants about the terrible customer service you have. Get subscribed to the most relevant thing to your market – blogs, del.icio.us, yelp, google alerts, etc, and be on top of customer feedback before it bites you.

I created traffic for my business

Whether you’re writing articles related to your business or simply writing things that people like to read, you are creating fans that will follow your work. Writing on diverse topics helps because it attracts people from different spheres. Sometimes your readers become your customers. Other times they become your friends or colleagues. Either way – your blog is a great place to promote your work and business. It goes without saying that any type of consulting business should blog consistently to show work they are doing. A static portfolio website is a good start, but you really need to be writing to get that Google juice flowing and get those customers to come to you from searches.

I got practice writing

Remember how your high school English teacher would say that creative writing is important? Well it turns out they weren’t half wrong. Even if you don’t write as part of your job, having writing skills helps you communicate your ideas. Being very knowledgeable and skilled technically is great but having the ability to communicate, share, and work with others is developed through more writing.

I helped others

You know it actually does feel good to help. When someone writes to me and says they found a tip I published helpful, or that they read my article and it changed their mind on something, or that I’ve praised a product or service of theirs, or simply that I’ve said something they agree with and now they have a place to speak up, that’s really a great feeling.

Did you really read the whole article?

If you’ve read all the way to the bottom, you probably have enough time to start a blog. Blogging takes up about one hour a week for me on average, and I consider it time very well spent. If you think you’re too busy to blog, consider the points I’ve made above and think about the value you will derive from more exposure, customers, feedback, and friends. If that’s not worth an hour of your time, I don’t know what is.

Happy blogging!