Twitter is increasingly helping journalists to pick up and follow stories, but the media is not the only sector to benefit - IT professionals can get just as much out of tweeting.

The hype around the social networking tool is reaching new peaks, but Jeffrey Mann, a Gartner analyst who specialises in web collaboration, says a little over-reaction doesn't mean it isn't useful to business.

He says IT staff can use it in much the same way as other business professionals - boosting their own public profile, keeping up with recent developments in the sector, and taking part in the day’s debate.

Techno talk

And the medium itself means IT staff are more likely than those in other sectors to have an enthusiastic online community waiting for them.

Mann says a lot of techies and geeks use Twitter, so many discussions are technology-related.

The potentially huge audience of Twitter means your posts could reach a massive number of people. As a result, users often steer clear of posting highly personal information and instead use it as a forum to explore and develop their ideas and opinions.

“People use it to keep track of people they meet at conferences, bloggers they like, and things like that,” says Mann.

“But they are not asked to do it by their companies - it is not a part of their job, it is about getting ideas out there and getting their name talked about. A lot of people are hesitant to post personal things. It tends to be somewhere between personal and professional.”

Get in the know

IT workers can use Twitter in the same way journalists do: to keep up with what is going on, what is new and which companies have announced a new product or the latest batch of redundancies.

It is often used as a signalling device, so users generally have to sift through the entries, find what is relevant and may have to do more work to corroborate what is being said.

Mann says, “Things may not be discussed in depth, as it is more like chatting. Things pop up, and people start talking about it. There is a lot of volume and noise. You have to pick out what is important, then take steps to find out what is really going on.”

A useful tool

It can be helpful when there is little communication over a certain event or topic - as users of Salesforce.com found when the site went down recently.

And plenty of IT’s highest profile figures are on Twitter, so it is a good way of keeping up with the industry’s big thinkers. And it could even be a way of becoming one of those big thinkers, says Mann.

“It helps to build up your own profile and become known outside the boundaries of your company. It could help find you a job and it contributes to your personal brand,” he says.

Get involved

It may be worth getting involved now, if you are not already. Mann predicts the hype around Twitter is about to come to a peak, before dropping off next year.

“It is reaching the top of the hype cycle. It is probably going to peak soon. It is useful and fun, and you can see some benefits, but we are already beginning to see some alternatives such as Yammer,” he says.

“It will start reappearing in other forms. Big companies and vendors are likely to introduce their own, similar sites, to use it in a more controlled way with a smaller number of users.”