Think Twitter is just a waste of time? Think again. According to www.Compete.com, Twitter ranks as the third most trafficked social networking site in the United States right behind My Space (No. 2), and Facebook (No. 1). 

A Twitter profile is a Web site and the fate of this marketing, communication and advertising vehicle depends on frequency, accuracy and timeliness of the interaction between publisher and reader.

Here’s what Tech Guru Doug Devitre has to say about using Twitter. “There are several reasons why real estate professionals should use Twitter but instead of focusing on reasons let talk implementation,” he says.

1.    Enhanced customer service.  Start following your followers and engage in @Replies and Direct messages (private) to answer questions quickly. Download a program called  TweetDeck to your computer to organize, sort, and follow up with comments, questions or feedback from your clients or prospects. If someone asks for feedback on a showing, then you can reply quickly to his or her Tweet by text message from your mobile phone.

2.    Share articles.  If you read online articles or produce your own blog and think your Twitter followers will benefit, then it’s perfectly okay to share them. Constant self promotion doesn't work with online social networking; however if you can share your blog posts in a way that will benefit your readers then you’ll build trust and repeat visitors.
It’s also perfectly OK to “ReTweet,” which means to share the same tweet another has posted but give them full credit.

3.    Share new ideas.  Changes in mortgage interest rates, tax laws, state regulations and municipal codes allow for creative professionals to help their clients immediately.  For example, when the $8,000 first-time homebuyer federal tax credit was passed initially, sales associates shared this news on Twitter and helped buyers secure financing for which they might not otherwise qualify. Post links to the articles about these ideas from other sources. 

4.    Share important links.  Links to share include Web sites, blog posts, pictures, videos and status updates. Since Twitter only allows for 140 characters or less, it may be difficult to type all you want to say in the small window. Services like www.TinyURL.com, http://bit.ly/, http://is.gd/, http://www.adjix.com, and many others allow you to copy and past long URLs into a window, and it will produce a shortened URL to paste into Twitter.

5.    Share photos. Photos of new listings, neighborhood photos and company events can be shared immediately with the world using TwitPic. Each picture creates its own URL and links directly to the Twitter account.

6.    Share videos.  Record testimonials, live events, or construction in action using the Flip Video camera (highly recommended) and post them to http://beta.twiddeo.com.  A service very similar to TwitPic but for videos only.

7.    Incorporate e-mail.  Create your own Twitter e-mail address that allows you to update your Twitter account by e-mail at TwitterMail. Save yourself as a contact record in your database management like Microsoft Outlook and save the Twitter e-mail address as No. 2 or No. 3. Twittermail also works with Twitpic by attaching photos to your e-mail address.

8.    Prospecting on Twitter.  www.Twellow.com is the Yellow Pages of Twitter.  Type in the person’s name with whom you want to do business and start following them. Since the only thing you can do is follow someone it may be necessary for you to send them a private e-mail to follow you on Twitter and use a scripted message with a hyperlink to your profile.

9.    Track Twitter Stats.  http://twitter.grader.com will give you a score to see how well you are using Twitter compared to others in your community.  http://twittercounter.com will inform others on your blog to follow you and notify them how many people are following you on Twitter. TweetStats is a great tool to see how often you’re using the functionality of the system.

10.    Damage control. Supervise your name and profile activity by incorporating TweetBeep, which is very similar to Google Alerts. Anytime keywords appear in a Tweet, you’ll receive a notification by e-mail to let you know how you should respond.

What may seem like a lot of work may only take a few minutes a day.  We take time to check our voice mail, e-mail, and text messages, but they don’t consume the entire day unless we let them. Proper time management skills are necessary to focus on building relationships, finding new prospects and serving existing clients.

Have a question for Doug?  Go to: http://www.Twitter.com/DougCares

Create your Twitter account today and start experimenting. Consumers soon will expect this as a level of service. Will you remain relevant in 2009?