How many times have you had these thoughts about Twitter? “Twitter helping my career? Right!” “Twitter is a waste of time.” “Twitter is for teenagers and the "now" generation with nothing better to do with their time.” Since its creation back in 2006, equal numbers of people have sang Twitter’s praises as have condemned it for being a waste of time. Many adult workers have shunned Twitter without even giving it a try. Is Twitter a waste time? It depends, on how you look at it. Before you condemn Twitter, consider how using Twitter might just help your career.

Learn how to create concise messages. Twitter allows only 140 characters for you to get your point across. That is not a lot of space. Does your boss insist that you submit succinct reports without a lot of filler and fluff? Learning how to get your point across in 140 characters will help you learn how to create the same types of messages when needed to get your point across at work. The character limitation helps you to master the art of writing sharp messages and providing concise answers to questions.

Connect with others that share similar professional interests. Most people think of Twitter as a place to inform their friends when it’s time to eat or go to bed. Twitter can be utilized for so much more. Consider using Twitter on a professional level. If you need to, have one personal account to play with and another account used primarily for connecting with like minded business professionals. Twitter gives you the opportunity to share information in a quick efficient manner.

Share pertinent links with peers and other industry professionals. Twitter allows users to add shorten URL’s for websites that would be of interests to their followers. You will find a wealth of information provided by others within your field. Twitter can lead you to updated materials and articles that will help you within your career.

Twitter can also allow conference participants to share the event and ongoing activities with other co-workers back in the office. It is not uncommon for seminar attendees to bring laptops with them to conferences. By logging on to Twitter, they can share a running account of the seminar activities. Twitter has even gone mobile, laptops are not even necessary. Anyone with the ability to text message, can text their tweets to their Twitter account without the use of a computer.

Bottom line, before you disregard the power of Twitter, consider just how this powerful tool can actually help your career.