Perhaps the rapid penetration of Twitter into popular culture is best captured by a recent New Yorker cartoon. The cartoon (see the June 1, 2009 issue) depicts a firing squad and an officer saying to a condemned man: "Last tweet?"

Perhaps tweeting will last a short while and then get squashed by some other fad, or it will continue until it becomes an established type of participatory communication. Some believe it has already reached the established phase - which is why politicians and corporations are rushing into the space.

Twitter is interesting as it establishes a link between mobile phones and the Internet allowing instant microblogging (texts are limited to 140 characters). Many people, obviously those with lots of time on their hands - such as those celebrities who are constantly twittering - find it useful.

But while on the personal level Twitter might be useful, it is a risky way of communicating for businesses and politicians. I believe all the corporations and politicians rushing into Twitter should hold back a bit on using it as a channel and perhaps even ignore the advice given to them by all those PR firms. Take it slow for now.

I exclude YouTube and to a lesser extent, Facebook, from this caution as I have seen, and been involved, in some PR campaigns using both and can see how they are useful - under carefully controlled situations.

However it is not so clear how to control the messages going out on a 'branded' Tweet site in the same way. Twitter can be used simply as a feed for press releases, as many companies such as AT&T are doing.

The AT&T Twitter had 12,370 followers as of yesterday, an incredible number when you think they had 4,000 followers at the start of this month. The number jumped because AT&T used Twitter as a means of communicating with customers during a day-long service outage in the wider Silicon Valley area. American Express is experimenting with Twitter though its OPEN Forum, which aggregates "relevant online small business conversations" from Twitter. And the media is finding Twitter useful for sending all the headlines of the day to readers' mobile phones, along with updates.

But the danger begins once you step outside of the controlled feed from a regular source and start into the quick back and forth exchange that characterises social networking at its best.

The danger of this is Twitter encourages twitterers to reveal what is on their mind at the time. In the business and political world it is not always wise to have an open feed to the mind, especially if you are part of a listed company under regulatory supervision. An inappropriate tweet could cause movements on the stock markets.

And while you may be sure about yourself as the head of a company or a political team, you will not know all of the hidden thoughts in the people you lead. For example Mike Green, described as a US Republican 'operative' and part of an election campaign in South Carolina for one of the Republicans running for governor hurt his candidate by posting this on Twitter: "Just heard Obama is going to impose a 40 percent tax on aspirin because it's white and it works." Ouch. He subsequent made a weak apology, after an enterprising blogger posted his tweet online. You will be found out.

Still, the communication advantages are worth the risk, as can be seen by the UK government's success in attracting an estimated one million followers to its tweets. This week, the Neil Williams, of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, posted a 20-page document on the Cabinet Office website urging civil servants to use Twitter. The document serves as a template and guide for their postings.

Tweeting should take less than an hour a day, the document advises, and should only be on "issues of relevance or upcoming events".

Williams was slightly apologetic about needing 20 pages, but after reading the document I agree with its length. It is the first good guide I have seen outlining the good reasons why one should be twittering. It also provides a very good guide in table format, of the risks, and the actions needed to prevent any problems from occurring on a branded Twitter page.

Businesses would be wise to use his generic template Twitter strategy and amend it to fit their situation. It is available under the link to the Digital Engagement Blog on the Cabinet Office website.

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Send any comments to Ahmed at elamin.ahmed@gmail.com