I was thinking of putting together a top 5 or even top 10 of Twitter uses, but I just thought a longer list of uses would be more fun and interesting to write, not to mention more useful. I got a bit sick of non-Twitter users telling me how they think the service is pointless even though they've never given it a chance! Hopefully here I can not only shed some light on further ways to use the tool for people that already use it, but also to convince the non-Twitter users that they should absolutely start using the service. I think one of the great things about Twitter is that it has something for everyone.

I actually have two accounts; one for networking with professionals and various web resources, and a new one that I use for just about anything. I think the latter is going to be my main account from now on.

Please be so kind to follow me at http://www.twitter.com/MyNamesAsh

So here it is. 49 uses for Twitter.

1. Find a job - Follow popular job sites, or even local agencies if you want a job specifically in your current area. You can be receiving job alerts daily. Easy enough.

2. Advertise a job - Tweet a job that is available for your business (or maybe you're advertising for someone else). If you have the right audience of followers for the job, you'll likely get some feedback.

3. Celebrity news - Whether it be your favourite comedian, band, actor or whatever - it's very possible they use Twitter depending on who it is. Keep up to date on what they're doing by following them.

4. Global news - Twitter is great for news. You can follow the big names such as CNN, and constantly receive links to news articles/media. This is particularly useful for receiving major news stories.

5. Local news - You can follow, for example, local newspapers that are now on Twitter. I do this. I get news from around my city by the day, and it keeps me clued up about what's going on in my area.

6. Advertise your blog - You can tweet your blog posts automatically with Wordpress, so they'll be advertised to your followers upon being posted, which is very helpful. Twitter highly raises the chance of blog success.

7. Network with friends - Find out all the little amusing details of what your friends are up to (in a non-creepy way), and let them know what you're up to. It's also great for direct chatting.

8. Find like-minded people - As a web designer, I find it useful to seek out others in the same industry. It's useful to network with like-minded people. I can now get help and advice on things when needed.

9. Funny stuff - Tweet links to funny videos, photos and articles. Every day I see links to things that really make me laugh. This is one of my favourite work distractions. There is always something.

10. Sports coverage - Bit of a sporting fan maybe? Or perhaps a hardcore one. You could, for example, follow football organisations where you'll receive scores and fixtures daily. Not bad at all, eh?

11. Read or tweet reviews - Perhaps you're a movie buff, or maybe a gadget freak? You can keep posted on reviews for various things whether it be movies, gadgets etc. Many review sites are already setup with Twitter.

12. Debate - Many of us love a good debate. I know I do. Perhaps you allow yourself to sink knee deep into a world of political debate, or simply argue about which OS is better. Enjoyably debate with your followers.

13. To-do lists - You can actually use Twitter as a to-do list by tweeting your upcoming tasks and favouriting them. Then there are also to-do list services such as Remember The Milk that work with Twitter.

14. Notify customers - If you're tweeting as a business, then it's probable you have some or many of your customers among your followers. You can notify them of your new products, services, prices and so on.

15. Setup meetings - This doesn't just go for business meetings, this could be for meetups with friends too. You can post a time and place to meet people, and you just may be surprised by how many turn up!

16. Tweet a poll or survey - If you're trying to receive data for surveys or polls for example, then you can tweet links to them. Perhaps offer something to your followers for those that take part.

17. Rickroll people - It just doesn't get old, does it? Using short links, it's just too easy to rickroll people on Twitter. Watch out though, they can easily do it back to you.

18. Buy and sell stuff - I'm not just talking about selling products and services in a business sense, I also mean if you have anything laying around that you may want to sell off, such as an old digicam or a cell phone.

19. Conferencing - Keep track of conferences, or allow your followers to keep track of a conference you're covering or running. Obviously you can use short links to hook people up with more detailed coverage.

20. Fun facts - Why not teach people something new every day? Afterall, knowledge is power. Thanks to Twitter, I now know that penguins can jump 6 feet in the air and that condoms were invented in the 1500s.

21. Elections - You can keep up with election campaigns, whether it be US presidency, class presidency for your school, or something even more specific such as vice presidency at your local Warhammer club. Fun times.

22. Interviews - I've seen celebrities being interviewed via Twitter. It's actually an effective way of interviewing because Twitter is structured as a very clear timeline. So if you ever do interviews, think Twitter.

23. Travel logging - Maybe you're on that trip to Egypt you always wanted, or are just on a boring business trip ten miles away from home. Either way, you can tweet your own travel log entries for your followers.

24. Photography - If you're a keen photographer, whether amateur or pro, you can tweet your snaps as often as you would like using http://www.twitpic.com - this photo tweeting service has become very standard.

25. Videography - Whether it be your own content or something you found on YouTube, Vimeo etc - share it on Twitter if you think anyone will be interested. This could be for any reason; advertising, entertainment etc.

26. Customer support - Twitter can be a highly effective customer support tool. If you have a business/site, you can setup a Twitter account especially for customer support where people can tweet you for assistance.

27. Propose to your partner - This one is definitely out there, but it has happened on Twitter! I couldn't help but include it because I find it so extraordinary that someone would propose on Twitter. She said yes.

28. Search - http://search.twitter.com - You can search for anything out of everything being tweeted on Twitter. As Twitter is a real-time messaging tool, it's a different way of searching. Eat your heart out Google.

29. Make friends - Following your friends and getting them to follow you is one of the first obvious things to do on Twitter, but communicating with new people means making new friends. I like making friends.

30. Q&A - Ask questions, give answers. Helping others is as important as getting help for yourself. Information exchange is a beautiful thing. If you have a lot of followers, there will be plenty of Q&A!

31. Brainstorming - Looking to develop a new idea for something? Perhaps a certain type of service, or possibly a promotional technique? Get your followers to contribute their two cents, and give yours.

32. Rant - If you are like me, you have bad days from time to time. Ah hell, I think we all do. Let off some steam by ranting via tweets. You may get some encouraging words from your followers in return.

33. Medical updates - Perhaps you've got an illness or injury that you need to fight and would like the support of your friends. It may not sound like a joyful use, but it's a great way to get supportive words.

34. Get sponsored - A lot of followers mean great odds of getting sponsored for things. My friend was trying to get sponsored for a charity bike race but using traditional methods. I said "why not use Twitter?"

35. Weather forecasts - By following forecasts on Twitter, you can receive daily weather updates of your area, or any area for that matter. This is much quicker than television forecasts, plus it's real-time.

36. Promotions - Advertising deals and special offers is a great way to offload stock, get extra clients etc. Or perhaps you would like to promote offers from other companies that you think are great.

37. Run or enter contests - Whether it be a writing contest, design contest, or any type - you can run it through Twitter easily. You can also take part. For example, follow 99designs for design contests.

38. Resources - You can follow all kinds of users that are linking to free resources daily. An example of some resources I get via Twitter is free vectors that I sometimes use within my web design work.

39. Showcase work - Whatever kind of work you create for a living (or perhaps as a hobby), you can showcase everything via Twitter for feedback and to build your reputation. For example, showing off your web designs.

40. Write a story - This is something that has already been seen on Twitter; people writing stories through tweets. Some have even done it where other users continue the story through their tweets. Fun and interesting.

41. Flight times - It's now possible to keep track of flight times, delays and cancellations - helpful for those of you that travel by air. I don't so often, but when I next do I'll be sure to use Twitter updates.

42. Stock exchange - You can now keep track of stock exchange by registering on http://stocktwits.com - very interesting indeed. I follow stocktwits mainly out of curiousity, some of you may find more interest in it.

43. What are you listening to? - Show what you're listening to, give your opinions on the songs, read what others think of the same music and so on. Most of us, if not all of us, enjoy at least some type of music.

44. Use BETAs - There's all kinds of web software/service BETAs that you can get in on via Twitter by following social network blogs for example. Or you could even get users for your own BETA software.

45. Coupon codes - Get valid, up-to-date coupon codes for software, web services and so on. You can get some pretty good price reductions on new software as businesses need people like us to use their tools and services.

46. Investment opportunities - Startups and more established businesses have already been seen seeking new investors via Twitter. Who knows what investment opportunities you may find for yourself, if interested.

47. Outsource tasks - Are you overworking yourself with a big project? Are you maybe having trouble meeting important deadlines? It's pretty easy to outsource work if you follow people with similar professions.

48. Water your plants - This one is just down right crazy. You can buy a kit that hooks up to the soil of a plant, and have it tweet when it needs watering or is overwatered! Twitter has wild possibilities.

49. Startups - Twitter startups, although many of them non-profit, are everywhere now. Twitpic, TweetDeck... there are numerous tools available. If you think outside of the box, who knows what you may come up with.

I remember staying up relatively late to get most of the list done, hopefully that doesn't appear obvious. Oh, and I understand that some of the uses listed have similar ideas to others on the list, but still. I think they're all individual things.

Do you have any further ideas for what Twitter can be used for? If so, leave a comment. I'm interested to see more unique and upcoming uses. I think certain uses on the list will evolve for sure.