So you've joined Twitter --  thanks to all the hubbub. Oprah does it, So does President Obama. Ashton Kutcher has over 2 million followers (aplusk). Now what do YOU do with it?
  It is basically a broadcast mini-blog (only 140 characters long),  but you can 'expand' that by adding URL links to other text, photos and videos, or webpages.  It's like your own one-segment media channel over the Internet - that can be shared to viewers or to be sent to a host of other applications and websites.
    What am I doing now? In reality, Twitter updates (and their integration into a multi-site broadcast) can serve as much more than just telling a few friends that simple info.
  The content of your Twitter updates is up to you and it does matter what you choose to say or what category or scope your tweets take.  Personally, I don't much enjoying reading an endless slew of mundane comments about the taste of somebody's toothpaste or complaints about the weather. Therefore, I don't often write those type of Twitter updates, and don't subscribe (follow) very long those who have only that to say.

 Importantly, you can 'update' your Twitter 'channel' from many different sources or formats:  from the Twitter homepage, or a host of other websites or web applications,  from your mobile phone or iPhone, and even Skype or other IM (instant messenger) programs, and most conveniently, directly from your browser (see FireFox  TwitterFox or Twitbin plug-ins) . Perhaps, more significantly, your Twitter feed can be updated whenever you do something else online, like upload a photo to Flickr or make a new blog entry since Web 2.0 sites can integrate their output with Twitter (as well as a host of other sites, API, and widgets).

First, it only makes sense to make your Tweets public (so unprotect them). Unless you have dozens of followers and want no more, you'll want people to find your Twitter feed. Also, complete your Twitter profile - photo, links, etc while you're at it.  

Secondly, you need to have easy and frequent access to your Twitter (and your friends') updates.  Having mulitiple ways to see and use Twitter updates allows it to become useful.
Of course, you can visit your Twitter.com page ever time you want to see it, but there are other more convenient ways. For me, having TwitterFox (a plug-in for Firefox Browser) lets me see in a small pop-up window what my Twitter peeps are updating. TwitBin works similarly but operates as a left side-bar in Firefox. Also useful  is the Twitter widget (directly from the Twitter site) which allows you to embed a constantly updated Twitter feed into your own blog or website.

Thirdly, let people know you are on Twitter. You can post your Twitter page on emails and link to it in profiles, blogs, and websites. From there, visitors and followers can find your 'main' link.

Additionally, some of the really exciting things you can do with Twitter derives from the fact that so many other useful programs and web sites can make use your Twitter update feed or can post updates automatically to your own Twitter feed. For example, Twitblogs.com is a great way to write a longer more complete and useful article or posting without taking up valuable blog entry space or making an off-topic blog entry.    Further, if you want to show a pic or video in Twitter, you can simply go to Twitpics.com.  See a recent Twitpics photo posted by Ashton K (which was then updated automatically to his Twitter page).  For both of the above, it is not necessary to sign-up again - just log in with your current Twitter name and password.
 Another useful tool for bloggers is Twitterfeed.com because it lets you automatically make an update to your Twitter when you add an new blog entry. It works for multiple blogs. 
 Yahoo has recently added status updates to his new Y! Mail, which can also update your Twitter. Twitter  (or another location-based status updaters, like Brightkite or Twitxr, etc)  can also update your Facebook status.  Twitxr.com, for example,  allows you to update Twitter and post your location (optional) along with text and a photo using email from a PC, Blackberry, or a regular mobile phone with digital camera. The photo can be posted to Flickr, Picasa (where your Blogger blog pics are stored) or uploaded to a photo album on Facebook. There are also a host of iPhone apps that can do similar things and more.

Finally, one of the really exciting (and as yet unexplored by me) is the notion of 'groups' or tags within Twitter.  Using tags (a keyword marked with a # (hash mark) streams of related tweets can be grouped and analyzed to understand trends in opinions, popularity, and for developing potential marketing strategies or campaigns.

Twitter is now the buzz, yet indeed it forms the basis for a new level of interactivity and breadth of information-sharing which forms a new global standard.

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The deciding factor for finally choosing Socialgo for the new home for Guys Into CMNM community was the fact that the ItwasonYouTube Ning went for SocialGo. I had strongly toyed with the idea of just abandoning the group (something that I was forced to do on Facebook - another story). But I realize I had invested time and energy in researching quite a few possible alternatives and also actually initially setting up the new SocialGo site that it was just easier to 'go with the flow.'  Some of the other social network sites I explored (and which each have some merits) were:  Hiadults, Collectivex.com, Orkut, Google's Friends Connect, Tribes.net, Facebook, as well as developing my own site with the use of Drupal or Joopla.  In the end, the force of inertia caused me to select Socialgo.  It's as classy and polished or as expertly crafted. It's is not as flexible and it's something very slow, but it has the basic features and a few that are better (the Magazine feature) allows members to contribute their own blogs post to a community magasine (categorized user blogs).  Its other major weaknesses are lack of member-designable profiles (no layout changes), and lack of RSS feeds or adding application or even widget except to one part of the main (home) page. The admin does not have the ability to add tabs and sub-tabs, or new pages (only 2 'extra' pages are allowed without paying a monthly fee). 
  I should add that exactly because I had the opportunity to first use Ning it is no longer as much fun and personally satisfying to go 'backward' to organizing a social network that's basically not very customizable nor can take advantage (actually showcase) the work that I put into my other sites/blogs. Without the capability to import RSS/Atom feeds and seamlessly integrate them into the main or subgroup pages, it becomes a chore to have to copy/paste HTML and the space for display of that content is severly limited.
  If you want to see the results, have a look at it:  Guys into CMNM on Socialgo.com

[Thanks to Ron (via a comment)  for his suggestion  about Webjam - I'll look into it right away.]

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