Twitter as the Foundation of Your Business

(MoneyWatch) 
If you haven't yet seen this TwitScoop video that captured the tag cloud of trending topics at Twitter as the news broke of Michael Jackson's death on Thursday, check it out. TwitScoop is only one of a massive number of efforts to build a business (or a cool app) on top of Twitter's open platform.

The best way to get an overview of all of this activity is at the Twitter Fan Wiki page. The number of apps alone is staggering already and it's expanding every day. But there are also nine books already in print (or e-book formats) about Twitter, and guides to everything from bots to hashtags to Twitter games.

Before Twitter, Google as the springboard for startups everywhere, and Google continues to add new features constantly such as the recent added search feature to Google News that allows you to search by an author's name, which is very cool.

As Twitter becomes ever-more established as the breaking news channel of choice, all other media companies need to have a presence there. Most active Twitterers manage their real-time information streams with the help of TweetDeck, TwitScoop, Tweetie, and the like.

It's no longer sensible for those working in news media not to have an eye on the river of information generated by the crowd. If it's not the events currently being discussed about Iran that you're seeking, maybe the celebration of the late Farrah Fawcett's acting career will turn you on.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to get back to Twitter in order to look into reports that one of the most reliable sources on the micro-blogging platform posting from inside Iran may have been arrested in the government's continuing crackdown on dissidents.