This series is based on my experience over the past 14 years of web development. Areas in the series will include:

• Hosting & Domain Name registration
• Interface design
• Fonts & Typefaces
• Graphics
• Programming Languages
• Server Environments
• Databases
• Security considerations
• Social Media Technologies
• Search Engine Optimization

The series will be updated weekly.

1. It’s free The barrier to entry is very low. All you need is a cell phone that can send and receive text messages.
2. It’s basic Twitter uses the lowest common denominator for all languages – Internet protocol. It doesn’t get any more basic than ones and zeros.
3. Its reach There are 6 billion people on Earth and 4 billion of them have twitter ready devices. Many remote places in the world that were never hardwired for electricity — let alone plain old telephones — now have cell phone coverage.
4. It’s open source Twitter makes its source code available to geeks all over the world who develop apps that customize your twitter experience. With well over 70,000 apps it’s safe to say there are thousands of geeks who have a vested interest in twitter’s continued success.
5. It’s brief Roger Courville of 1080 Group in Oregon shared this graph giving a visual representation of the incredible shrinking soundbite from 1968 – 1996. It’s best to communicate a complete brand message in less than 8 seconds if you want that message to spread.
6. It’s not WHAT you know… Through advanced twitter search it’s easy to find and connect with people who may help raise your brand’s awareness. Twitter is the easiest way to connect with influencers including politicians, celebrities, and captains of industry.
7. Its diversity Several studies have shown that – when given a problem to solve — a diverse group of non-experts arrive at better solutions than a group of experts. In his presentation A Logic of Diversity, Scott E Page concludes, “Most of the time the diverse group outperforms the group of the best by a substantial margin.”
8. It’s an Uber social media platform Every tweeter belongs to at least one other social media platform. This is based on anecdotal evidence, but I know of NO tweeter who does not participate in at least one other social media platform and yet I know LOTS of facebookers who only do facebook.
9. It’s real time News, ideas, brand stories and rumors spread at the speed of light on twitter. When you combine that with its Uber status, information and mis-information that spreads on twitter will trickle down to virtually all other social media platforms.

10.  It’s the world’s largest bridging social capital group in the recorded history of our species Think of twitter as a round the clock networking event where ANYONE with a device and a connection can virtually mingle with the likes of Bill Gates, Lady Gaga or Roger Ebert.

Only time will tell if David Letterman’s prediction about twitter is accurate. At least now if you run into a twitter nay-sayer you have ten facts to enlighten them on the important role it plays in social media today.

Excerpt taken from http://www.socialmediatoday.com