When I explain Twitter to the uninitiated, I tend to describe it as my virtual water cooler. Connect the Tweets collects the top trending items on Twitter and attempts to put them into perspective and context. These are then posted on the site or more conveniently, distributed back out via Twitter by @cttweets. MORE >>

Taking a different slant, Corporate microblogging (primarily on Twitter in Western countries) overall has a significant positive impact on trust. Having a personal, human voice engenders trust, and indeed the fact of trusting individuals to Twitter on the organization's behalf makes them more trustworthy themselves. MORE >>

While I’ve noted the advanced Twitter search operators in the past, but wanted to spend some quality time looking at them in more detail. Keep in mind that most of these same search queries work equally well in Twitter search and various other applications, like TweetDeck and Monitter. Standard Operators. Location. Dates. Links. MORE >>

Not so much for myself, but for my clients — helping them figure out how to get the most marketing bang for their Twitter buck, and showing them ways to build their following and streamline their Twitter time management. Karen Laland: What is the biggest Twitter time waster? Denise Wakeman: Having Twitter open all day. MORE >>

Most of you know that Twitter can be used for much more than just announcing what you ate for breakfast. Many of you already know Twitter’s value in business, but you can still take it further and use it to land gigs, market your business, grow your network and gain free publicity — all in 140 characters or less. Marketing. MORE >>