Top Twitter Tips

Silly time waster? Sure. Powerful business tool? You bet.

You've heard about Twitter -- that curious, strangely addictive social-networking technology that facilitates torrents of truncated messages among millions of users. You might even know your hashtags from your re-tweets. But how can you make money with it?

Forbes canvassed scads of businesses and pricey social-networking gurus looking for honest answers. Admittedly, we were skeptical. After all, how much can you accomplish in 140 characters or less?

Turns out there are myriad ways Twitter can have an impact, and not just as a marginal marketing tool. Indeed, we found several clever ways to use Twitter, for everything from boosting sales and scouting talent to conducting market research and raising capital. Chances are there will be many more.