More and more of our clients at Cubeworks want to understand how they can use social media and especially Twitter. It might not be the right move for their business just yet, but with all the Twitter buzz in the air, they don’t want to be missing out.

Many a social media/web consultant has blogged in recent time about the benefits and pitfalls of Twitter for business, and I had formulated my own thoughts. Well… just as I sat down to finish my post, I discovered Twitter had put me out of my misery with their fantastic, shiny new business guide entitled “Twitter 101“.

If you’re expecting a quick read along the lines of “Ten easy ways to whup the competition using Twitter” then Twitter’s new guide is not that. But if you want a deeper understanding of what this Twitter thing is all about or you don’t know your retweet from your hashtag then it’s well worth 10 minutes of your time: http://business.twitter.com/twitter101/

At a time when a lot of businesses are trying to work out how they can use Twitter to engage in a conversation and not just bombard their followers with traditional one-way marketing messages, releasing this guide looks like a smart move. The case studies are a particularly good way of getting businesses to understand how you can use Twitter successfully.

I’ll be following this up with another post next month, with thoughts on how Twitter can work for your business and, following some recent high-profile PR disasters, some recent examples of how to definitely NOT use Twitter.