Twitter has been a phenomenal growth machine that has entranced many people around the world with the simple idea that you type 140 characters and then the world can find out more about you. The company has done this so effectively that they have raised close to $160 million dollars in venture capital in the 4 short years of it’s existence.

But it is not just Twitter who has become a huge venture funding machine.  Tweetdeck, Hootsuite, and Bit.ly are three applications that Twitter users enjoy on a regular basis. Each of them has received roughly $2 million dollars in funding to build their business models. Many more apps will start to receive funding this year, so the question now begs how do you make money on the tweetconomy.

Many small businesses make money through Twitter by building relationships, customer service, and also branding. It is a great way to express what your company does on a daily basis to your target market.  Additionally, the relationships that you build lead to more and more business for your company.