Using twitter as a base of business operations makes perfect sense considering the growing popularity of online social networking. Much like a business after hours or chamber of commerce function, this social networking community gives you access to many key potential customers and contacts. Now obviously one of your first priorities will be connecting with other people on twitter to gain acceptance and build a following, but the site has other valuable uses as well!

Here are 5 very valuable reasons any online business has for working on Twitter the wildly popular social networking community.

Develop Key Contacts

Many people think in terms of generating traffic and making sales when they connect with other people on twitter for business purposes. By broadening your thinking you can also use this site to establish contacts with others in your industry that you can collaborate with in the future. Joint business ventures or link exchanges are great ways to give your business a shot in the arm in terms of expansion!

Trending Topics & Current Events

This is a great source for finding 'what' is popular and to educate yourself on 'what you need to know' on trends and events. Twitter also has the capability of breaking news to you before even the syndicated networks can.

Thought Provoking

Just a comment or a simple phrase may be all you need to stimulate your creative thinking juices for creating fresh and useful content. By listening in on conversations you may hear things outside the 'normal' scope of your own social circles. Broadening your horizons in this way will help you to focus in on news or topics that currently captivate others.

Develop Your Own Following

Of course you will want to develop your own following when participating within this social networking community. When other people on twitter follow your tweets you are then at the point where you can promote directly to them. It is wise to coax these followers into joining your list or subscribing to your blog so you will also have access to them off the site as well.

Increase Your Knowledge

By 'siphoning' off the knowledge of others you thereby stand to increase your own giving you a better and possibly more relevant perspective. Whether it is industry knowledge or general knowledge it does not matter since either way it is of benefit. It may be a tip or shortcut someone may share or even possibly an upcoming event or news of significance so keep your ears open and tuned in to the conversations.

Using twitter for business purposes makes complete sense due to the immense popularity of online social networking. Simply connecting with other people on twitter offers a huge benefit in terms of key potential customers however this social networking community offers other advantages as well! The 5 reasons reviewed above offer additional motivation for using this site that go beyond simple customer sales. If done correctly your use of this online social networking community could also build key business contacts and add to your knowledge pool for developing future marketing strategies.