Twitter is about short messages. It’s about getting out something simple to the masses (or not) in a short amount of time. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard “What is Twitter!?” which is often times expressed with almost a disgust mixed with a bit of confusion.

My answer?

It’s nothing more than a text message that is sent to dozens if not hundreds of people in just seconds.

But then the really neat thing happens, your ‘tweet’ can be ‘re-tweeted’ by those very same people. And then those people and their people and so on. As you can see this 140-character limit message can grow almost exponentially.

Consider the Iran elections last June where anyone in the world could get updates on the chaotic and tragic situation in that country. Do a search for “twitter Haiti” and you’ll find a host of stories. Just wait until you’re done reading this however.

So how does this relate to business or even the little state of Indiana where we call home?

From the business aspect you have to consider the ramifications of how quickly a message (good or bad) can fly across the Twitosphere. What if you’ve created an amazing new product line and need to get the word out now. Are you going to wait for that magazine to publish and print next month or are you going to drive people to your web site to be one of the first to have one of your Wadget Gadget Gizmos?

I’m thinking the latter is more obvious and less expensive.

So Twitter can be viewed worldwide and anyone can keep track of what’s going on second-by-second. So who would care what’s going on in Indiana? Well I would of course because I live here! And today it was quite interesting to watch a snow storm verging on blizzard unfold just to the south in Indianapolis and move northward towards Gonink world headquarters.

Here’s how it unfolded:

9:34 AM

The first reports of snow are coming in and people begin talking about it…

9:34

9:43

9:53

10:06 AM

People are still reporting the start of the snow fall and even posted mobile videos….

10:06

10:23

10:34

10:52

11:06 AM

More reports are still coming in and people are mentioning places like Carmel & Greenfield Indiana…

11:06

11:16

11:20

12:02 PM

Slick untreated roads, school closings and accumulation totals start rolling in…

12:02

12:30

12:33

1:32 PM

Now users are starting to tweet and re-tweet (RT in the Twitosphere) others reports so everyone can be filled in…

1:32

1:37

1:51

2:30 PM

Not everyone is happy about being in Indiana because they’re missing out on the snow. But others are starting to wonder about the road conditions…

2:20

2:31

2:43

2:52

2:56

3:05 PM

Reports, photos and a latecomer to the Twitter chatter is wondering about “what snow storm?”

3:05

3:23

3:29

3:34

3:35

As you can see I easily tracked something local and this easily could have been a business story. Sure it may not catch on as fast or be as popular, but what if you had even half this many people talking/Tweeting about your product or service? Would you be interested?

Up next, how did I track all of this without losing my mind?