Met a fascinating guy through Twitter this week. His name is Mark Shaw. He has a wonderful job that wouldn't have existed a year ago. He makes his living with Twitter. He writes about it, talks about it and coaches it. He has taken a social phenomenon and given it a commercial edge.

The guy has in excess of 15,000 followers and is currently ranked #3 in the Twitter Elite for the UK. He knows what he's talking about, and I'll be interviewing him soon for this 90 day blog on building a reputation online.

The point is this. Twitter is getting big - really big. Not the huge millions of some networks, but if people are able to make a living teaching others how to make it work, there must be something in it. It's fun, it's open, it's random and it's supportive!

It also has a commercial aspect.

If you can build a following, you can be a leader.

If you can be a leader, you can have influence.

If you can have influence, you can leverage a formidable reputation.

Most people don't 'get' the idea of blogging, let alone the notion of 'micro-blogging' with 140 characters or less. Mark himself didn't get it when he first saw it.

I've spent around ten hours on it in the last week. I get it. I see the benefits. And I'm willing to give it some time. If I want to move from anonymity to visibility, I need to be seen, valued and followed. I've not seen anything move as swiftly as Twitter to make that happen.

And Mark is the ultimate case study into how it can work when you do it right!