It seems like everyone who's anyone, with the exception of Doug McCune, is twittering up a storm these days. I get probably 100 tweets a day on average, and I'm only following ~30 people.

A lot of people have written about the merits or short comings of twitter already, and arguments on whether or not it will last are raging around the web as we speak. I don't want to get into any of that. Rather I'd like to take a second to look at the ways people are using twitter and talk about what this means for user adoption and Twitter's growing importance to social media.

How People are Using Twitter
So far I've seen three major trends in Twitter uses amongst my own Twitter community and the broader Twitter verse. They are, in no particular order:

1. 1. Twitter for support
Companies are using Twitter to give their customers constant updates on their products and services. A good example of this is 37signals, who Twitters the status of basecamp updates and sends announcements about new features and blog posts out through Twitter. 37signals' Sarah Hater also provides personal tech support through twitter. Another good example is 360Flex, a popular Flex conference who uses Twitter to make announcements about developments in the conference schedule and speaker lineup.


2. 2. One-way Twitter
One way Twitter relationships where people follow news and advice from others. The followers rarely if ever message the followed.


3. 3. N-way Twitter
N-way Twitter is the most common form of twitter relationship, where two or more people use Twitter as an open chat room to keep in touch, discuss, cajole, etc.

The first two uses are relatively new to the social network scene - things like Facebook and Myspace so far haven't provided good ways for companies or mentors to "push" information to a faceless group of interested individuals. Though it's secondary to the N-way communities evolving around Twitter, it's an important one not to over look.

The Growing Importance of Twitter
One sign of Twitter's growing importance is the number twitter accessories and clones that have been popping up recently.

Foremost among these in my community has been BrightKite - a tool that integrates with Twitter for keeping people updated with your location. BrightKite lets users alert others when they're close by and keep their friends updated with their geographical locations. I don't really see the appeal to a service like this myself right now, but I didn't see much appeal to Twitter 6 months ago either, so I'm trying to give it some time.

A second Twitter-esque service I've stumbled onto recently is called Blip. Blip is a simple music sharing service that allows users to broadcast what they're listening to and what they think of it. It's also integrated with Seeqpod, allowing users to listen to music right on the Blip webpage, and funds itself by providing links to purchase any of the mp3's it plays from popular music sites like Amazon. Blip's biggest mistake is not integrating with Twitter itself but rather re-making its own carbon-copy of it with a few enhanced features. With IM, email, campfire and Twitter already open on my desktop, there's no way I'm going to keep yet another window open just to announce my music preferences 10 times a day. It's a great idea, but would work much better as a Twitter mash-up than stand-alone service.

The arrival of Twitter accessories and Twitter copy cats like these is a sign that users enjoy the simplicity of Twitter and that it's catching on in the community at large. Though I'll grant there's a lot of merit to the arguments against Twitter, market trends like these should be a strong vote in favor of giving the Twitter model and it's feature set some thought when planning your next web application.