I know  people with dormant Twitter accounts and plenty more who say they check it sometimes but don’t really know what to do with it. I have some basic reasons I tell people about why they should keep using Twitter, no matter what field they are in.

Nicholas Carlson recently wrote a post for the BusinessInsider.com titled: 60% Of Twitter Users Quit After A Month. Carlson cites Oprah (@oprah) as an example of someone who has become “bored” with Twitter and reports that Nielsen Online estimates that 60% of Twitter users quit after a month. The post goes on to say that the 60% number may be misleading as Nielson only measures Twitter usage based off Twitter.com and not from mobile use or apps like TweetDeck.

Starting and stopping on Twitter is not the way to go. Once you’ve registered for your Twitter account, the boring part is over. Once you do that it is time to explore and utilize.

Here is why not to stop using Twitter:

1. Connection BUILDING
Connection building on Twitter takes time. If you meet someone and only know them for a month, they become the past. If you start your Twitter account, add Followers and then stop using it, you aren’t building anything- that’s just trying it out. Building real connections on Twitter requires meeting people, but it also requires following up and cultivating the connection. If you stop using Twitter after a month you lose valuable connections.

2. Web Presence
Twitter is listed along with Facebook, Linked In and MySpace whenever people talk about social media. That makes it part of your web presence. No matter what field you are in, from online-related work like affiliate marketing or web design and build to songwriting or cooking, Twitter is a valuable part of your web presence. Not having it at this point means being late to the party- starting and then stopping means part of your web presence is a dormant account. Not a good web presence.

3. Branding
Twitter can be a key component of building your company or personal brand. With your own website or blog you can add your own work or link to the work of others, but Twitter enables you to highlight the work of others when they write, launch or say something you like or want to identify with. The time and energy invested is minimal, but tweeting a few things everyday that you find that relate to what you do helps build your brand reputation as connected and part of a community. Powerful.

4. Marketing
No matter what you do, Twitter is a valuable marketing resource. It gets your message out to thousands in a low-cost, time efficient way. Whether you are marketing a product, event or creative output, Twitter is instant access to an audience that is there to find value. Twitter empowers you to market value.

5. Fun
In the end, Twitter is fun. You can’t stay on it and twitter all day instead of working, but it’s fun to catch people there, get your thoughts down to that 140 character mark and see what’s going on. Also, there are so many new people starting out (that 40% is still pretty high) with Twitter that it is sure to continue growing and changing—and that’s something you don’t want to miss.

Let me know what you think @murraynewlands.