Offering ways for people to save money on stuff they want, when they want it, is a great way to make friends.

If you're in the consulting business, you can dispense pithy pearls of wisdom. Follow the example of Hal Croasmun -- aka ScreenplayTips. In case you're wondering, none of these examples are paid endorsements. I'm just highlighting Tweeple I follow who seem to know what they're doing.

ScreenplayTips offers exactly that, semi-regularly posting comments such as, "Tip 37: There's a difference between rewriting and editing. If you edit a story that needs a rewrite, it usually locks in the mistakes."

Hal's profile features a link back to his site, where he offers screenwriting classes. The beauty of being constrained to a 140-character limit is you can whet your audience's appetite, and you never have to give away the store.

If you have something to say that's longer than 140 characters, you can tease it via a tweet. You can't use HTML in tweets, so you'll have to type the Web address in. Twitter automatically converts it to a link. Because some Web addresses alone are longer than 140 characters, you'll probably want to use one of the many URL-shortening services available to create a tiny virtual address for your link. I'm old-school and I like TinyURL.com, but there are plenty of other choices out there.

ZATZ has its own URL shorting program, so when you subscribe to Computing Unplugged's Twitter Feed, you'll see little short URLs starting with the ZATZ.com domain.

Interact with your audience
Twitter is not just a way to push content at people. It offers another direct channel of communication between you and your customers. This is not to say you'd want to spend all day keeping tabs on what your customers had for breakfast or watched on TV. But, the immediacy presented by a 140-character limit allows you fast, to-the-point, interaction with them.

You don't have to bother reading the endless scroll of tweets to keep in touch, either. Customers can send you direct messages or reply to your tweets. Check your direct message inbox and @Replies tab regularly and you won't miss a thing. It's a perfect way to filter the signals from all the noise.

One last tip. Don't set up a Twitter account and just leave it unattended. Until recently, no smaller an outfit than the Minnesota Department of Transportation had done just that.

Last summer, they proudly announced, "Hi Twitter! Mn/DOT is going Web 2.0! We welcome your feedback." Two tweets followed within a week, then came eight months of silence. If you're just trying Twitter out and decide it's not for you, simply deleting your account presents a better public image then leaving a dusty, neglected storefront.

That's all I've got for now. Don't forget to check out Computing Unplugged's Twitter feed at http://www.twitter.com/ComputingUnplug. Our esteemed editor has vowed he'll never tweet his #breakfast. [McChicken sandwich and something that looked like twigs, which is why I'll never comment on this again. -- DG]

Dale Troppito and Dawna Paton are managing partners of the Gantry Group. Troppito has guided Gantry's rigorous ROI best practice models based on a 25-year career in the technology sector as a CEO, product development executive and chief marketing officer. You can reach her at dtroppito@gantrygroup.com. Paton believes that the technology leaders of the future will be those that understand the crucial role that a market-validated, value delivery strategy and compelling ROI play in shaping corporate competitiveness and customer satisfaction. You can reach her at dpaton@gantrygroup.com.