You may have noticed in my sidebar an application called “Lost Boy Twitter”. For those unfamiliar with Twitter, it’s basically a glorified instant-messaging service that allows you to build up a network and communicate with people.

If you have a blog in any niche, you should be using Twitter. It’s a great way of promoting your own content and finding new blogs and websites that other people are promoting.

Once you have signed up with Twitter, you can then start sending in updates. Some people use Twitter to update people about what music they’re listening to or what they’re having for dinner, but it’s also a great way of spreading the word on content. Every time you write a blog post that you think people will be interested in, update your Twitter and tell people. Each time you find a blog post worth reading, share it on Twitter.

You can build up your network by finding people to “follow”, which means that you keep tabs on their updates. People in turn follow you and receive updates every time you add something to your Twitter.

Many top bloggers, including Shoemoney.com and DoshDosh.com, are using Twitter. At its most basic, Twitter is just pointless fun, much in the same way as chat rooms are, but if you start using it to network with people, you can drive traffic to your blog and build your online brand.

If you have five minutes spare, go and sign up for Twitter and then head over to my profile and start following me; I’ll return the favor.