Twitter is the 'big' thing in mainstream media at the minute with every dj, celebrity fundraiser or news station plugging their twitter account as if it's some sort of badge of coolness.

Nearly everytime I hear someone plug their twitter account on TV or radio I cringe. I can't help it. All I can think of is my Dad telling friends years ago that he was cool because he'd been 'skiing' the internet (that'll be 'surfing' Dad!). Or when Dr. Evil proclaimed 'I'm cool, I'm hip, I'm down with the kids, dugga dugga'.

Why has it become so cool? Part of it is the fact that on it you hear news practically days before anyone else. In my company it has become known as 'Twitter Deja Vu' - the social media team will be talking in the office about something they've heard on Twitter, and a few days later other members of the company read it in a paper and they think, 'Haven't I heard this somewhere before? But it's only in the paper today!?'

So Twitter has become the place for people 'In the know' - or the place to go to get 'In the know'! As a result Twitter is changing and getting more and more coverage in traditional press - and as a result more people are signing up to Twitter with no idea what it is or how it works. They follow everyone they've ever heard about in the traditional media and two weeks and 1000 follows later call themselve Twitter vetrans or Twitter experts.

Twitter just is twitter, is a micro-blog, it's a way to network, to share interesting ideas amongst people with mutual interests - but that's just how I see it at the moment. How I see it will evolve as twitter evolves and our uses of it change. It's a medium of the early adopters and now everyone else is jumping on the bandwagon. It feels like that amazing spot only you and a few others knew about has just built an international airport, opened a McDonalds and there's a Hilton, Raddisson, Marriott and Holiday Inn all fighting for the prime location. So here are a few tips for those of you either new to Twitter or keen to stay clear of the commercial clutter.

Don't follow everyone, be selective or else you'll lose interest as 200 tweets come flying in per hour and none of them are of interest to you

Have a look at someones profile and tweets and if they are talking about something you are interested in follow them.

You'll also find there's a good chance that they people they are following or following them are interested in the same things so have a look at their profiles also and follow as appropriate.

Have an opinion - there's a good chance if you follow someone they'll follow you back so don't be a lurker, say something, reply to tweets a.k.a 'retweet'. Don't be nice for the sake of it - add something to the conversation - an opinion, a site with a different or supporting perspective

Fill out your profile, add in a picture - you'll look slightly odd and not that interesting if your profile is empty. Use as much of the space as you can to give people an idea of who you are and what you are interested in - that will help people decide whether you're into the same things or not.

Start new conversations - add a link to something interesting you've spotted - you've only 140 characters so abbreviate your link using tinyurl - it's brilliant and free.

You will find that as you begin to have a higher twitter profile more people start to follow you particularly commercial companies - be selective in who you follow back and if someone's tweets aren't as good as you hoped you can always stop following them.