Twittering is not just for the birds anymore, and it hasn’t been since the microblogging service made a splashy debut at the South by Southwest technology conference more than a year ago. Since then, Twitter use has grown leaps and bounds—and not just with the Gen Y crowd. These days, it seems like everyone is networking through 140-character messages called “tweets”—including business owners.

If you’re new to Twitter, you might be asking yourself how the service can actually be useful as a business tool. While Hammock is experimenting with Twitter as a content management tool on websites (like the website we built for the NFIB/eBay National Small Business Summit), for most individuals, the answer is simple: Twitter keeps you hyper-connected to clients, employees and colleagues, one tweet at a time. Here are a few reasons why adding Twitter to your business toolbox can enhance your business:

Stay in touch with employees. If you’re running late for a business meeting or need to send a short reminder to employees, Twitter keeps you well connected to everyone who follows you on the site. Struck in traffic during a long commute? Stop for coffee on your way to the office? Send a tweet via text message so the entire company knows exactly when you’ll be at your desk and ready to work.

Connect to clients. No matter what kind of business opportunity you’re looking for, it starts with connecting to people—and in today’s fast-paced world, people want immediate answers to their questions. That’s why companies like Comcast and H&R Block have started using Twitter to offer customer service in real time. (You can follow Comcast and H&R Block on Twitter, too.)

Share news. Follow like-minded business owners to help each other stay on top of the latest news and marketing trends in your industry.

Make business contacts. Thanks to the skyrocketing popularity of social networking services like Twitter, making business connections is no longer something you do at cocktail parties and industry trade shows. Follow people in your industry and let them follow you. And don’t be afraid to alert your followers when you’ve experienced business growth. Land a new client? Unleash a new product? Update your Web site? Send out links that point to your success to expand your business’ reach.

Through writing for American Spirit, the magazine Hammock produces for the Daughters of the American Revolution, I have acquired a newfound fascination with American history--especially with groups that typically have been marginalized. A few weeks ago I finished reading Black Elk Speaks, John Gneisenau Niehardt's record of the Lakota (Sioux) chief's experiences as tribal healer and holy man, and his account of the battle at Little Bighorn and the massacre at Wounded Knee.

Two years ago, when I was a junior in college and planning to become a high school English teacher, I spent four weeks teaching Language Arts classes to Lakota children at Pine Ridge Middle School on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. This particular reservation was a hotbed of activity during the American Indian Movement in the 1970s, with the Wounded Knee Massacre occurring there in 1973. I spent my time "on the rez" (as the locals call it) shadowing a sixth-grade teacher, Mrs. Donna Jumping Eagle, and overcoming the awkward race relations that sometimes still exist between White and American Indian cultures.

Two nights before I left Pine Ridge, Mrs. Jumping Eagle invited me to her home to experience some of her culture firsthand. Nervous about the prospect of indulging in traditions completely foreign to me, I almost turned down the invitation--and nearly turned the car around and retreated to my hotel room as I drove toward her house that evening. When I finally--and reluctantly--arrived, we shared a meal of Indian flatbread with her homemade chokecherry jam, a Lakota delicacy, before retreating outside with her friends and family to participate in a sweat lodge ceremony.

This Native American religious service takes place in a four-foot tall hut made of sticks and animals hides, with a pile of heated rocks placed in the center. The purpose of the ceremony is for participants to "sweat out" their iniquities, and a designated participant ensures this will happen by repeatedly pouring water on the rocks to create steam and increase the temperature of the sweat lodge. I remember distinctly trying to concentrate on improving my character, but somehow I was unable, preoccupied with the wonder of being so intimately introduced to this hidden sect of American culture.

We spent about an hour in the sweat lodge and I sat attentively while Mrs. Jumping Eagle and her friends sang religious songs in their native tongue. Once the sweat ended, Mrs. Jumping Eagle insisted that we smoke a peace pipe together to celebrate building a bridge between our two cultures (Don't worry: I checked first to make sure we weren't smoking peyote). As I drove away from Mrs. Jumping Eagle's house that night, I remember thinking two things: 1) Participating in a sweat lodge was the most uncomfortable thing I had ever experienced; and 2) I should stray from my comfort zone more often.

Since sharing that experience with Mrs. Jumping Eagle, I've developed a passion for helping Native Americans conserve their culture. Organizations like the Native American Rights Fund help American Indians defend their rights and maintain their traditions, and the DAR offers scholarships and cultural camps for Indian children. I've worked hard to donate extra money to organizations that help my friends on the Pine Ridge Reservation hold tightly to the culture they so bravely and openly shared with me.

It's strange, but every time I smell pipe tobacco I feel instantly thankful that I didn't turn the car around that night.

I'm not ashamed to admit it: I'm a small business junkie.

After one too many bad experiences in crowded shopping centers and box stores, three years ago I vowed to shop at local businesses whenever possible. Overall, it wasn't a difficult sacrifice for me to make: Stepping into a Wal-Mart has always made me shudder, and I've never set foot in a mall without my blood pressure nearly increasing to heart-attack levels. I'll admit that I missed my beloved Starbucks Frappuccinos at first, but once the withdrawals subsided, I realized something: I never hated shopping like I had always suspected; I just hated big-box stores.

My friends believe I'm wasting my money by shopping at local boutiques, coffee shops and foods stores whose prices are slightly higher than the plethora of superstores located only two miles from my home. But in my opinion, my money is best spent on the "little guy" who smiles when I walk in the door, never fails to ask how I'm doing and always offers a quality product. So when I moved to the 12 South area of Nashville a year ago, I instantly found myself in small business heaven.

Within a span of three blocks, this up-and-coming area boasts six clothing boutiques, an art supply store, two coffee shops, a dry cleaner, three restaurants, a neighborhood bar and more. Whether you're browsing the boutiques on a Saturday afternoon or looking for a great place to grab a bite after work, one thing's for sure: There's something unique about these neighborhood businesses. Here are a few of my favorites:

two elle
Past style meets the present at two elle, a lifestyle boutique of men's and women's clothing, and home decor. With everything from funky patterned skirts and bohemian sweaters to classic button-down shirts, this unique specialty shop has something for everyone .

Portland Brew
This classic neighborhood coffee joint serves up choice coffees and teas from all over the world--and with a good conscience, too. With a fair trade certified sticker declaring their global mindset on the front door, Portland Brew buys their coffee from other fair trade certified companies, ensuring that everyone gets a fair cut of the cash--even coffee bean farmers in Guatemala.

12 South Taproom
The perfect location to meet friends for a relaxing dinner after a long workweek, the 12 South Taproom has various beers on tap, including select brews from Nashville's Yazoo Brewing Company, live entertainment and an impressive menu that redeems the reputation of "bar food."

I love patronizing these small businesses because their owners are idealists--they have to be in order to stand their dreams up to big corporations. And the fact that I shop locally, in many ways, makes me an idealist too. Instead of simply looking at buying clothes, food and other necessities as shopping, I prefer to look at it as investing in someone else's dream--and that's hardly a waste of money.

At Hammock, we're in the business of helping small businesses grow. Many of our employees are the children of seasoned entrepreneurs, and when given the chance, we always support local businesses with our needs. Through our custom media craft blog, and work with smallbusiness.com and NFIB's MyBusiness magazine, we at Hammock believe in giving small business owners the tools and tips they need to grow. That probably makes us idealists too.

After nine semesters of college, seven different jobs and countless sleepless nights, I am finally a "real" adult, as I like to call it, with a full-time job here at Hammock, Inc. My parents, professors and older friends have been telling me since I was 20 that reaching the age of adulthood would mark the end of the fervor, idealism and optimism I felt as a college student. I've been told for three years now that adulthood means hating your job, coming home exhausted every night, losing touch with old friends and losing interest in the world around you. According to my aged mentors, the moment I embrace adulthood I will become a boring individual with nothing to look forward to except prime time sitcoms (though I must admit, Grey's Anatomy has already hooked me). Maybe as I grow older I will prove them right, but for now, I'm convinced they are mistaken.

Today I came to work and helped fold 250 Hammock, Inc., t-shirts with my co-workers, all of whom are older and much more experienced than I am. As I struggled to perfect the t-shirt folding process, I realized that these "real" adults are actually quite concerned with the world around them. In a philanthropic effort to give back to the global community, the Hammock team will donate a laptop to One Laptop per Child every time we receive five photos of our "Hammock friends" wearing their Hammock t-shirt. And if that's boring, well then, I hope I can be boring one day too.

Sure, adulthood comes with the frustration of paying off student loans, car insurance payments and those pesky taxes (I couldn't BELIEVE how much of my first paycheck went to Uncle Sam), but for me it comes with a lot of perks as well. Every day I read, write and learn about the NFIB members we feature in MyBusiness, the famous patriots we write about in American Spirit and the civilian-soldiers who tell their stories in GX. And as an added bonus, I learn more about the craft of putting together strikingly attractive magazines every day.

I'm sure that after a few months I will occasionally experience the unavoidable monotony that comes with working any 9 to 5--but for now I'm convinced that I work in the most fun and exciting office in Nashville. See? Adults can be idealistic and optimistic, too.

Megan joined Hammock as an intern in 2007 and we liked her so much we kept her around upon her graduation from Lipscomb University in December 2007. Megan works on the editorial staff of all of Hammock’s publications, and whether she’s researching ideas for whatnot, finding cool tools for MyBusiness or writing stories for American Spirit, she’s always busy.

Having grown up in a small village in Ohio, Megan enjoys the perks of “city life,” taking advantage of the plethora of small ethnic restaurants and local coffee shops all over Nashville. The daughter of a small-business owner, she is determined to support local businesses and enjoys poking around the specialty shops and art galleries near her home. In her free time, Megan frequents a local coffee shop in the 12 South district of Nashville (the baristas even know her favorite drink, raspberry tea!), teaches ESL, discusses literature with her nerdy friends and throws dinner parties complete with homemade sushi.

When she can take time away from the office, you’re likely to find Megan almost anywhere in the contiguous United States—she’s been to 37 states. Or she’ll be sitting around a table in Ohio with her large Italian family, enjoying homemade manicotti, gnocchi, and chicken parmesan.