It might be hard to believe, but social-networking site Twitter actually has some socially redeeming qualities for travelers.

Even the most backward cave-dwelling technophobe can, with a few simple steps, transform this tool invented to generate self-involved blather into an instant travel news service, a bottomless resource for savvy travel advice and a mobile coupon book with deals from hotels, tour operators and airlines (some available on Twitter first -- and, in some cases, only to Twitter users). Even better, it's free.

In short, Twitter is a network of about 30 million users who can choose from which people they want to get messages, or "tweets." A few thousand of them are travel experts, airlines, hotels, bloggers, cruise lines and tour providers -- as well as other travelers. The typical tweets from this group fall into three categories:

News: Swine flu. Airfare trends. Unrest in Iran. Missing Air France jet. Passport rule changes. All are topics that showed up on Twitter in a timely manner, in some cases before they aired on cable news. Follow the right people and you have an efficient, free wire service on your iPhone or BlackBerry. Recent example from American Airlines: "Major storms at DFW today causing delays/cancellations -- working to get folks underway ASAP and will update here."

Advice: Experts of varying levels (journalists, bloggers, hard-core travelers, amateurs) ply Twitter with simple nuggets of advice or, more often, links to consumer stories and blog posts about finding the cheapest airfare, learning how to pack lightly and other handy tips.

Deals: MGM Grand, Vegas.com, Virgin America, Hotwire and Budget Travel (to name a few) all tweet when there are special fares and room rates to be had. United Airlines invented "twares," which are "special, time-sensitive fare offers from United for its Twitter followers," according to the company. One recent "tware" offered Australia from the West Coast starting at $444 round trip. (Note: It's impossible to gauge the value of every offer out there, even by some of the people tweeting them. As always, buyer beware.)

While the deals and offers are, well, a big deal, companies such as Virgin America, whose account (@Virgin America) has more than 18,400 followers, are careful to avoid becoming an endless ad.

"We could talk about our deals all day long," said Bowen Payson, online marketing manager for the company, "but we'd lose our audience quick."

In a new twist on customer service, a Twitter user on a Virgin America flight fired off an irate message that he didn't get his meal. Workers at company headquarters saw the note and called the cockpit to have attendants on board fix the problem.

But be selective. Not everyone is worth following 24/7. Most tweets by American Airlines (@AAirwaves), for instance, are answers to questions and internal company posts ("AA shareholder meeting is over ... now on to the press conference"), which is of little use to someone looking for helpful consumer tips and deals. If you're flying American, follow it, then stop following later.