There was an excellent analysis piece in last Friday’s FT looking at the way in which Twitter has crossed over into the mainstream.

The article quotes Peter Norvig, director of research at Google. He says that among younger people email has largely given way to communication by a mix of text messaging, instant messaging and posting updates on social networking sites.

The piece uses the now inevitable Obama example, but there is an interesting look at the commercial opportunities offered by Twitter.

If Southwest airlines is connecting with its customers on Twitter what’s stopping you?

Read the article.