#SMWF kicks off in New York in two weeks, and we’re excited to announce that Shane Steel, Twitter’s global director of marketing sales is one of our headline keynotes.

Twitter, which took a little over three years to reach a billion tweets, now sees almost the same number of tweets sent every couple of days, 60% of which are sent and viewed on mobile devices.

The platform represents one of the most exciting real-time marketing tools we’ve ever seen, and Steel will discuss how brands are taking advantage of the various marketing tools introduced by Twitter over the last two years.

Promoted Tweets, which caused consternation among hardcore Twitter addicts when first introduced two years ago, are now enjoying engagement rates of between 2% and 3%.Marketers are using the instant nature of the medium to react quickly and build their brands in real time; casting a human angle to their two way communications.

More than half of all Twitter users now follow more than six brands, not just because these brands are using the channel to disseminate special offers and freebies, but because the more creative marketers are promoting community, engaging directly with users and providing access to exclusive content.

Shane Steel will deliver a number of insightful examples of how brands are leveraging Twitter, taking advantage of the promotional tools it offers and deepening and widening their relationship with users through real time communication.

#SMWF is taking place at the Sentry Centers on Third Avenue, New York on November 27-28 . For more information on how to attend, visit the homepage: http://www.socialmedia-forum.com/northamerica