By Tim Ferguson
Thursday, March 19 2009 12:21 PM
URL: http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/internet/0,39044908,62052343,00.htm

U.K. small and midsize businesses (SMBs) are embracing microblogging site Twitter with around 700,000 companies now using the service.

According to research by mobile operator O2, U.K. SMBs are sending around three million posts or "tweets" per day.

The O2 research questioned more than 500 small businesses and found 17 percent are using Twitter, with 28 percent of those having signed up in the past four weeks alone. Around 6,000 small businesses sign up every day.

The research also indicated that many small businesses are using Twitter more often than social networking sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook or their own blogs.

Being able to raise the profile of the business for free was cited as a big benefit for SMBs, with 74 percent of those surveyed saying they use Twitter to raise awareness.

In addition, around 42 percent of SMBs said they're using the technology to stay in touch with customers and suppliers.

Tim Ferguson of Silicon.com reported from London.