Twitter has been ridiculed as a time wasting fad, and praised as a groundbreaking business tool. It’s been featured on Oprah, and tweets have even been sent from the International Space Station. Millions of people are tweeting all over the world. What is all the fuss about?

Twitter is an online service that lets you share very short text messages on-line - rather like Facebook with only its status message. That does not sound too exciting does it? To understand Twitter, it is helpful to look at some of the ways that it can be used. Imagine this scenario:

It’s the first day of her new job, and Wendy is nervous. She had been thrown in the deep end. “No spoon feeding” her boss told her. “I don’t have time to look after you. Let’s see if you can live up to that impressive CV of yours.” And sure enough, here she was facing a software program she had never heard of before, with a deadline looming at the end of the day. She opened her Twitter account and started typing the first of her questions. All those weeks of finding the right people to follow was about to pay off. She breathed a sigh of relief as her Twitter network responded, and the helpful tips started rolling in. It was going to be all right.

Another example:

A businessperson puts down his phone, and turns to his computer monitor. He sighs as he surveys the growing lists of angry tweets. Who could have believed that one small incident, one misunderstanding, could blow up into such a mess? One angry customer posts a tweet, and now there were hundreds of angry messages scrolling over his screen. Would it be best to ignore the “tweet storm” and wait for it to blow over, or should he reach out to explain the other side of the story to attempt to save the companies reputation?

It is the very simplicity of Twitter that makes it so effective. It is not a conversational medium like Facebook, nor does it have space for the in-depth analysis of a blog. It is immediate, chaotic and fast – a barometer that reflects the tides of opinion and news.

One of the most powerful ways in which you can use Twitter is to share links to interesting articles and other online content. Used in the right way, Twitter can become a vast, human driven search engine. The secret to unlocking the power of Twitter, is to invest time in finding the right people to follow.

Here are some of the ways in which a strong Twitter network can help you:

· You can follow the tweets of experts in your field, benefitting from the links and tips they share.

· You can find work by alerting your network to the fact that you are available for employment.

· You can use it to “crowd source” answers to questions, find help and recommendations on any topic.

· You can run instant opinion polls in your network, or use it as a sounding board for new ideas.

· You can build your reputation as an expert in your area by judiciously sharing knowledge in the form of links to interesting articles.

· You can keep track of breaking news and trends by following tweets on specific topics – from politics to entertainment.

· You can use it to enlarge your existing online presence by alerting your audience to new content on your blog or website.

Where can you learn about Twitter, and the many other online tools? One place to start is the University of Cape Town Internet Super-User Course. The University of Cape Town’s Department of Information Systems has partnered with GetSmarter, a specialist online training company, to present this part time, Internet based course.

The online nature of the course means that anyone from anywhere in South Africa can take part, and participants can study according to their own schedule. The course is suitable for novice to intermediate Internet users.

The course is due to start on the 12th of April 2010 and registrations close on the 31st of March 2010. Please contact Deborah on 021 685 4775 or deborah@getsmarter.co.za for further information. Alternatively, see www.getsmarter.co.za.