It's gone past being the next big thing, it's the current big thing. Twitter has made a meteoric rise in a relatively short amount of time. Inspired by status messages on instant messenger programs, the micro blogging service allows users to post messages of no longer than 140 characters. These messages, or 'tweets' are used to convey what the person is thinking or doing.
You can then choose to follow someone whose tweets you find interesting. The tweets of the people you follow are automatically posted to your homepage, and the same in reverse for people who follow you. It's a great way to keep in touch with friends, and perhaps more crucially, a great way to let people know what you're up to and pass any messages instantly to anyone that's interested.
So what does this mean for musicians?
For established bands it means that they can have a direct and personal relationship with their fans. A good example is Californian band Thrice. At the time of writing they're recording an album and posting constant Twitter updates along the way. Comments on the progress along with photos can really help the fan feel more involved. With the possibility of sending the band a direct message fans can ask anything they like with a distinct possibility of getting an answer back.
For new and emerging artists Twitter represents a great way to promote your music and to reach people who might be interested in it. Twitter can be an excellent word of mouth tool, and if you're good enough then you should see some really positive results. The Twitter domain is very powerful in Google and you might find that a well optimised Twitter page will rank very highly in the search results.
So how to make use of Twitter as a new band?
Find the people who are talking about the bands you sound like and the genre of music that you play. You can do this by using Twitter's own search tool. Once you find people who you feel might be interested in your music then start following them. It's common for people to follow you back, at least to start with.
What you need to make sure is your tweets have interesting enough content to keep people following. If you're good enough then your name should spread over time and you'll find yourself with a nice following.
Once you've amassed a loyal following it then becomes easier to promote new songs, gigs and anything else you want your fanbase to know about. Twitter is a very powerful tool and I think that new bands should really try to make full use of its potential. We haven't had the first 'Twitter discovered' band yet, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time.
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