Experts in online presence and website development may or may not share this view, but our contention is that Twitter adds little or no value to online business presence.

Time is your most valuable business asset. Working on Internet marketing voraciously consumes time. Spend what little time you have for Internet marketing, updating your company website, drafting press releases, writing blog posts and articles or answering questions related to your industry.

Don’t waste valuable time tweeting.

The current wave of pro-Twitter hype has left many business people feeling that they are missing a vital marketing opportunity because their business is not spewing Tweets on a daily basis.

In fact there is no need to feel guilty every time some consultant or media personality blabbers on about how ‘core’ Twitter has become. When this kind of guilty feeling starts to creep up on you, stop it! There is no need to feel inadequate because you are not firing off tweets at every important moment.

Rather take comfort from the fact that there is little that you can tweet about that really matters to anyone besides your closest family and possibly a tiny handful of employees.

The hard truth is that very few out there care about Tweets that don’t come from big show business, sports stars or from boy bands and the like. Your Tweet announcing the arrival of stock of your latest widget is going nowhere and, in fact, will only annoy anyone who does get it.

I challenge anyone out there to think of any single event that happens in your business that is so important that your customers need instant notification of its occurrence. Secondly try to think of any regularly occurring events that would genuinely continue to interest and excite them.

Not easy is it. But there are instances when Twitter does add value and can be an advantage.

In a more general sense, Twitter excites those members of the extended social groups who follow celebrities, media occasions, big sports and other major events.

If you feel a need to contribute 140 characters of pithy philosophical wit to an on-going conversation, join an uprising that topples governments or become one of a flock of followers, then Twitter is just for you.

This facility does have some value in the search engine optimisation of your site, where you already have done the basics and want to make use of Twitter posts to help get new articles and press releases indexed faster in the search engines.

If your business does not fit into any of these categories or there is no immediate application necessary, then just say no to Twitter.

Find something else to worry about.

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