Here’s what happened when Chris Savage, the chief executive of Wistia.com, searched for the phrase "private video sharing" on Twitter, a social networking site. One post he found read, "A teacher requested a private ‘video sharing’ Web site so that specialists can observe student behavior—can anyone refer one?"

That got Savage’s attention. He e-mailed back: "Still looking for a private video sharing site?"

Minutes later came the reply: "YES! It’s the first request for one—thought I’d hit up my tweets before [I] go digging."

Savage: "Cool. You may want to check out Wistia.com. Full disclosure, I’m the CEO; -)"

While this exchange may seem a bit cryptic, Savage is one of a growing number of business owners to whom it makes an awful lot of sense. Savage frequently trolls Twitter looking for sales leads for his five-person, $1 million company, which makes software that facilitates video sharing through a private network. Although Savage has been using Twitter for only a year, it’s already helped him find 12 new clients for his Lexington (Mass.) company. "This is a no-cost way of marketing," he says.

Jeremy Quittner, staff writer for BusinessWeek in New York, has written an insightful article entitled "Twitter: Building Businesses Tweet by Tweet", which outlines how entrepreneurs are finding the fast-rising microblogging site to be a useful tool for reaching out to customers.  It details Twitter’s strengths, how to get started and some examples of businesses who have made it work for them.

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