Twitter, for those who haven't seen it yet is the hottest of the new wave of microblogging tools, including the just acquired by Google Jaiku.

The concept is simple enough: communication limited to 144 characters, the physical limit of SMS txt messages on a mobile phone. Messages go out to friends and followers, and in return you can see what they are Twittering about.

I can't count the number of times I've seen people write about what a waste of time Twitter is, how it can't be monetized and that it's not worth using. At a first glance these are probably reasonable first conclusions, but Twitter actually offers a lot of things.

Networking

You can't put a tangible price on networking, so it's difficult to use networking as justification against the "you can't monetize Twitter" argument, but it is.

Twitter is the ultimate always on networking tool that you can use to keep in contact with existing contacts as well as build new relationships.

In my own case I've become friends with people who are in my Twitter stream, even to the point of sitting down to dinner at a function and immediately knowing people only from Twitter.

Networking has indirect benefits as opposed to tangible direct benefits. It might be a future business deal, or asking someone for advice, but those relationships can and do often result in benefits to users.

Marketing Tool

Andy Beal wrote in his excellent post about owning your reputation online; Twitter is one part of owning your reputation and marketing yourself to the broader online community.

Think of Twitter as a quick and cheap form of blogging, one that is easier to post to as it doesn't require a lot of thought as a blog post may well do. A good Twitter stream helps market yourself as someone with something to say and even as being an expert in your field.

News Tool

Twitter is also fast becoming an alternate source of breaking news. RSS readers do a great job, but if something is happening fast and you're following the right people you'll read about it more quickly on Twitter. As a news writer I've already found myself writing posts based on Tweets (Twitter posts) I've read.

Fun

My favorite side of Twitter is just the fun notion of connecting with people and discussing anything and everything. Sure, it can be a work distraction at times but all in all its one I've always welcomed. As I type this I've got the OSX Twitter client Twitteriffic open to the left of my browser on my first monitor. It sits there all day, every day, feeding me with news, gossips, discussions and even some fun bits and pieces.