Twitter's popularity just keeps on growing and with 140 million tweets everyday, it is hard to believe anybody has resisted the urge to join the microblogging site.

There is also an increasingly strong argument that Twitter could be the untapped business resource companies have been waiting for, but have yet to take full advantage of.

But with so many users to trawl through, who are the best to keep you up to date with tech topics, as well as being an entertaining read?

We put our heads together at IT PRO to give you the top five tech tweeters we think you should follow for both insight into the private and public sector, along with their private and public lives.

1 Kevin Rose

We are all big fans of digg.com over at IT PRO, which is probably reason number one for adding the founder, Kevin Rose, to our list.

But what we like about Rose's tweeting style goes further than just an admiration of websites he is involved in.

First off, he will always pass comment on tech issues of the day and point to new websites or technologies he finds of interest.

Secondly, he will also give his loyal followers a glimpse of what he is working on at the time, doing Q&As online about new projects or linking to presentations he will be a part of.

Most of all though, we like Rose because he is such a personable tweeter. He seems to spend a lot of time replying to his followers over one million of them and gives little insights into his lifestyle, be it making sushi at home or listening to the Foo Fighters.

Don't expect the guy to follow you back but enjoy his regular, interesting tweets.

2 Martha Lane Fox

Coming back across the Atlantic, we are a big fan of Twitter user Martha Lane-Fox.

Known primarily as the co-founder of lastminute.com, Lane-Fox has added another string to her bow by becoming the Government's digital champion. Her mission is to get as many of the 17 million people thought to be excluded from digital technology online and help them take advantage of the benefits its can bring.

Ok, so these people cannot enjoy her tweets as of yet, but she uses her Twitter account to regularly update interested parties on progress she is making and the goals set in Westminster.

On top of this, Lane-Fox also passes comment on entrepreneurs and business issues affecting the UK and regularly responds to her followers' questions.

We think she is a shining example of a good business tech tweeter.

The higher up a company you go, the less likely you are to get genuinely interesting tweets, both about the inner workings of a firm or day to day issues, for fear of a PR nightmare.

However, Matt Cutts, the head of Google's Webspam team, is a really great follow for keeping up to date with movements at the Silicon Valley giant.

Obviously, he will tweet about new things he is involved in at Google and wider updates to the company's services.

However, he is willing to admit fault for the firm too, such as a tweet earlier today linking an article entitled "25 things I hate about Google" and exclaiming "every Googler should read this."

Yet again, Cutts is also very good at replying and his followers seem to be growing by the day, currently just topping 100,000.

Stick with this guy for your Google news and some tongue in cheek banter.

4 Tom Watson

We return to the UK again for our next entry and once more pluck a Twitter user from Parliament Square.

Tom Watson is a Labour MP for West Bromwich East, so not the first name you would think of when it comes to technology.

However, he has taken a keen interest in a lot of major tech issues debated in the House of Commons, from the Digital Economy Act to net neutrality.

Watson regularly links to insightful articles around public sector technology, as well as passing his own outspoken comment and links to his blog.

Yet again, he is great at responding to his followers and even has it out with rival politicians through the microblogging site.

But Watson also has a personal touch and will fill you in on his family life to try and make people see politicians are still human after all.

A great Twitter user for those who want to be in the know when it comes to the politics of technology.

We have a certain love affair with Steve Woz' Wozniak in this office and this only flourished after we started following him on Twitter.

Known for his role in building Apple but now with his fingers in a number of tech pies including Fusion IO Woz is a well-known character with industry insight.

Whether tweeting about tech events he speaking at, new products being unveiled or his cameo role in The Big Bang Theory, he is an interesting tweeter.

Woz is also more than happy to reply to questions and use Twitter as the conversational tool it was designed to be.

If you like him as much as we do, get on that Twitter feed.

Don't forget to follow IT PRO on Twitter for all your tech news directly.

Everyone needs someone to look up to, and IT professionals are no different. The sector has a wide range of truly amazing people genius geeks, brilliant business minds, ingenious inventors who are well worth a bit of hero worship.

Some may well look up to modern leaders such as Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer - we'd like to have the latter's public speaking skills, at least - or get historical and look back to the likes of Ada Lovelace or Alan Turing.

Here are IT PRO's top tech heroes - let us know yours at comments@itpro.co.uk.

Douglas Adams

One of the figures that had a great influence on me as a child was not a technologist in the purest sense, but the author Douglas Adams.

There's no doubt that Adams was a visionary and the link between great science fiction and science was evident in his writing.

Imagine a book that had information, much of it spurious, on pretty much everything. In 1977, Douglas called it the Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy' today, we call it Wikipedia.

A 1990 BBC2 TV documentary called Hyperland, written by Adams, introduced to me and the rest of the audience the concept of Hypertext'. It blew me away. Tim Berners-Lee was coming up with HTML at around that time.

Adams was famously a huge Mac advocate, and yes, he bought the first Macintosh sold in the country (allegedly Stephen Fry was the second).

He loved the purity and human touch of the Mac, and while he got to use and praise the first version of Mac OS X he sadly never got a chance to play with the iPod, a device he no doubt would have gone gaga for passing away in May 2001, just four months before it was introduced.

His influence in tech culture is writ large IBM named its 1988 chess computer Deep Thought' after the planet-sized computer that came up with 42' as the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything is but one example.

Adams was always immensely quotable and it is with one to which we can all relate that I will end with "Technology is a word that describes something that doesn't work yet." - Benny Har-Even

If you don't know who he is, well, you should after all, you're using his greatest creation.

The man invented the web. And then he gave it away for free. If there's any person who should be taught about in UK schools, it's this Brit.

After pitching his interesting idea to his bosses at CERN in Geneva, Berners-Lee didn't seek to make himself the richest man in the world with his clever idea. Instead, he humbly realised that others could come up with similar methods, and that making his widely available was the only way it would work.

So here we are. The guy could take his knighthood around the well-paying speaking circuit, pump out a few biographies extolling his own awesome-ness, or just sit at home knowing he'd accomplished more than most ever do.

Instead, he teaches, continues to research, and looks to take his creation further with his work at the World Wide Web Consortium.

On top of that, he's evangelising for free data. You see, the more good data that's made public, the more we can all analyse it to figure out how to make the world a better place. He actually lead TED attendees in a "RAW DATA NOW" chant.

He's intelligent, talented, humble and cares about the world. What more could you want from any person, let alone any geek? Nicole Kobie

I've been in contact with Black on and off since I started in tech journalism back in 1999. She first captured my attention as a woman trying to champion other females into a career in IT.

Since, then she's done no end of good work for individuals and groups alike in her work with the BCS and the University of Westminster.

Most recently, despite being an incredibly busy person and then some, Black has worked hard to highlight the plight of Bletchley Park. Without Black and others like her, this critical piece of computing's history, would be consigned to just that. She's keen to protect this wondrous place for future generations as so many technological advances occurred between its walls - if only walls could talk.

It would seem Black is also the epitome of multi-tasking, wearing all the hats she wears in addition to being mum to four children. And whenever I've seen her, either in person, or speaking at an event she always seems really jolly.

If I were a young girl at school today and attended a talk held by Black, I would find it very hard not to catch her infectious enthusiasm for what she does and why she loves tech. - Maggie Holland

At first, my choice was going to be Steve Jobs as the leader of Apple, but then I realised that what I really loved was not the company but rather the way the products were built and designed. And the man behind that aspect of Apple is London-born Jonathan Ive.

The way he has ushered in a sea-change when it comes to computer and device design is remarkable, and in the space of a few years has put Apple at the top of the tree when it comes to aesthetics and the all-important ease of use.

Ive doesn't get the big headlines like a Jobs or a Ballmer but he is crucial to how Apple is now viewed as the coolest company on the block.

The evidence? Well, think of the fact that he was the principal designer behind the iMac, PowerBook, MacBook, MacBook Pro, iPod and iPhone.

The design and ease of use persuaded me to buy an iPod, MacBook and iPhone over the past few years, and I don't really consider myself a fanboy' as such, as I'm open to any company's products.

But it is Jonathan Ive and his design excellence that has played major part in convincing me to follow the cult of Apple'. - Asavin Wattanajantra

Martha Lane Fox was a massive dot com

success as the co-founder of Lastminute.com. The brand became a household name after its launch in 1998 and was one of the sites to survive the bubble bursting in 2000.

Admirable as this is, it is her exploits after her departure in 2003 from lastminute.com that really prove why she is a hero of ours.

In 2004, Lane Fox was severely injured in a car accident while on holiday in Morocco. This led to her spending two years in and out of hospital having multiple operations on her legs, pelvis and arms. She has had skin grafts and now several metal plates in her body but this hasn't deterred her passion for business and technology.

Her most recent move was to become the Champion for Digital Inclusion for the Government and is now using her technological expertise to help encourage more people to use modern day technology.

After her appointment, she released a statement saying: "Although I realise I am lucky enough to be one of the least digitally excluded people in the country, I have seen first-hand how technology can help to create positive change in people's lives."

Her journey has been an amazing rollercoaster and now she is giving her experience to those who need it. She is definitely a heroic character in the technology industry. - Jennifer Scott

Who's your tech hero? Let us know at comments@itpro.co.uk.

Like much shiny new tech, software-as-a-service has quickly gained traction, but analyst firm Gartner has warned about jumping on the bandwagon without taking a good look at the delivery model first.

"In recent years there has been a great deal of hype around SaaS," said Robert DeSisto, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner, in a statement.

"As a result, a great number of assumptions have been made by users, some positive, some negative, and some more accurate than others. The concern is that some companies are actually deploying SaaS solutions, based on these false assumptions."

As budget constraints push some firms to consider the model, Gartner offers five SaaS assumptions to keep in mind. The myths listed aren't all bad news for the software model, but could be for your firm if you choose to deploy for the wrong reason, the analyst firm warned.

Myth One SaaS saves money

Gartner said that SaaS deployments are often cheaper in the first two years, because there is no initial capital investment. But it noted that over five years, the total cost of ownership might outweigh that of traditional software models, as the initial outlay has already been made.

Myth Two It's faster to deploy SaaS

While SaaS is indeed an easier and quicker way to rollout simple systems, that may not hold true for more complex solutions especially those being customised. According to Gartner, vendors may promise deployments in 30 days, but they can take over seven months in reality.

Myth Three SaaS is utility computing

Gartnery called this assumption "false in the vast majority of cases". Most SaaS users are not charged by use, but on a set contract, regardless of whether the software is used or not. "In some cases, the application lends itself to metered use for example, an e-commerce application may have pricing based on order transaction processes but for the most part, utility examples are in the minority," Gartner said.

Myth Four Integration is difficult

According to the analysts, SaaS can be integrated with office-based apps or data using batch synchronisation, real-time web services or mash-ups so it's no excuse not to use software-as-a-service.

Myth Five SaaS is best for basic systems

While Gartner noted that complicated end-to-end systems may not be best served via a SaaS model, the analyst firm said the ability to configure means highly customised applications are possible, especially under application platform as a service (APaas) systems.

Google's Latitude service, which lets users share their location with the friends they choose, could have wider possibilities for business.

The new service has attracted criticism from privacy groups, with some accusing it of technologically-advanced stalking. The official Google explanation doesn't make it sound less creepy. "Once you've opted in to Latitude, you can see the approximate location of your friends and loved ones who have decided to share their location with you," said Vic Gundotra, vice president of engineering for the Google mobile team, on Google's blog.

"So now you can do things like see if your spouse is stuck in traffic on the way home from work, notice that a buddy is in town for the weekend, or take comfort in knowing that a loved one's flight landed safely, despite bad weather."

But it's not just a handy solution for tracking misplaced children or stalking spouses. Like most tech, it can also be applied to the business world. All the examples listed here are available using other solutions, but usually at a significant cost, meaning small and medium sized businesses could finally get the chance to benefit from location-based services (LBS).

Tracking employees

Unsurprisingly, this raises some valid privacy concerns, but we're not suggesting a company fit all their employees with tracking devices to see if they're bunking off work or spending too long in the pub at lunch.

Instead, this offers cheap, basic security for field-based workers, letting their office-bound counterparts know exactly where they are at all times. Existing technology already offers this, but can cost in the thousands of pounds though it does bring other features with it.

Tracking missing equipment

Depending on settings, Latitude could be used as a basic equipment-tracking device some have suggested tying an old BlackBerry to a dog in case it runs away. But a mobile phone left behind in a van that's subsequently stolen could offer some help in tracking where it's been taken, assuming the thieves aren't Google savvy enough to switch it off

Quick and easy dispatch

Smaller companies with a mobile workforce could use the system as a basic dispatch control method. Knowing where one of your plumbers is could help decide where to send him next, while a delivery van stuck in traffic could be sent advice on a better route via text.

Location-based advertising

Clearly, this is where Google would like to take this service. No matter where you are, it can target its search and advertising to your location. While on one hand this could be annoying, it makes it easier to find local businesses - assuming they're listed on Google Maps.

Search savvy businesses can make sure the person walking down their street can find them without having to do a whole lot of extra work. It's like having one of those sandwich-board guys standing out front waving people in, but without having to invest in the sign

Unified communications

Aside from the location aspect, there's another tool on offer in Latitude. It links up SMS, instant messaging and phone numbers for ready access and can be used via iGoogle at a desktop computer.

While this doesn't quite meet the spec list for most unified communications systems, it does mean a coworker could see that you were in the office and know to call you at your desk and if not, send a text to your mobile or stick to email, instead.

Today marks the fifth anniversary of Facebook that popular time-waster that so many love to hate and hate to love.

While the social networking site was launched by the now-very-rich Mark Zuckerberg and his four co-founders who no-one ever hears about on 4 February 2004, it was originally limited to Harvard University users and only made available to the rest of us in September 2006. That was a rather clever move, as just a year later the number of users had ballooned to 50 million and is now near 150 million.

Didn't know that? You might use the site everyday come on, you know you do but there's probably a lot you don't know about Facebook. Here's our top five Facebook secrets.

Facebook has a lot of older women using it.

Women over 55 are the fastest growing demographic group on the site, growing at a rate of 175.3 per cent since late September, according to InsideFacebook. In other words, your mum might be about to poke' you.

But Facebook was never designed for kids. It was originally created for university students all those years ago, so it should come as no surprise that 45 per cent of its US audience is over 26 years of age.

Facebook likes Open Source.

Facebook's relationship with open source could be described as just friends' or it's complicated,' but the social networking site has a few projects on the go and uses open source style systems to run much of the site. According to Facebook, it is the second largest PHP site by web traffic which isn't so much open source but free software, but it's something.

It also runs a massive installation of the open source database system, and is the largest user of memcached, an open source caching system originally developed to speed up LiveJournal.

Aside from day-to-day operations, Facebook is also running a few open source projects and has licenced its developer system, Facebook Open Platform, not under the GPL but a similar system called Common Public Attribution Licence last year.

Facebook is not the first Facebook.

Zuckerberg originally called the site thefacebook.com, but after deciding to take it to the web he bought the domain www.facebook.com from a software firm called AboutFace Corporation.

That firm had been using the domain to offer its own social networking software from as early as 1994. As part of its intranet product AboutFace offered and still does a system that it claims to "foster community within your organisation with an online facebook."

It is actually called "Employee Facebook." Perhaps surprisingly, this hasn't led to a lawsuit by either party.

Microsoft really likes Zuckerberg's work.

As a younger man, Zuckerberg created a music player called Synapse, which could learn listening preferences. Microsoft tried to buy it up and hire Zuckerberg but he opted to carry on with his education instead.

So the 2007 rumours that Microsoft was looking to buy the site for $6 billion weren't the first time Zuckerberg had rubbed shoulders with the software giant. He eventually sold a 1.6 per cent stake in Facebook to his suitor for $240 million.

Facebook... doesn't make that much money off of you.

It's a good thing Facebook has so many users.

According to a recent report by Deloitte sites such as Facebook just don't make that much money per user. "The book value of some social networks may be written down and some companies may fail altogether if funding dries up," said Deloitte researcher Paul Lee, according to the Telegraph.

"Average revenue per user for some of the largest new media sites is measured in just pennies per month, not pounds," he said.

Deloitte said the average revenue for a cable subscriber, newspaper reader or movie-goer is over 10 dollars. And, the analyst firm said, with the recession hitting advertising spending and video content sending storage costs soaring, it's only going to get worse.

This trouble could be why Zuckerberg recently announced plans to sell more targeted polls to corporations

As IT gets more complex and sophisticated, so does the malware. MessageLabs revealed some of the new tricks and dangers we need to look out for next year.

1 - Mash-up malware

Web 2.0 is the ideal environment for malware which can change depending on the event or circumstances of a situation. Separately they may be harmless, but they can be constructed and combined to create a malicious attack.

With mash-ups users are able to combine data from many websites, but these can be used to construct a malicious attack. Malware-as-service will also be more common, which allows automated malware to be bought and released to order.

Cybercriminals are also very likely to find new ways to change and modify malware, making some undetectable even to the very best anti-virus solutions.

2 - Personal social network phishing

2008 saw the first time that criminals were making a much more concerted effort to phish social networking sites such as Facebook.

This will continue, but as bad guys will learn the way that members use the site they will develop better tricks to collect as much personal information as they can.

Regular email phishing will be a problem, but it's unlikely to be the traditional Nigerian-style 419 scam which end up fooling you. Targeted emails are becoming more common as it becomes easier for anybody to become to phish thanks to malware-as-a-service.

3 - The battle to CAPTCHA

Surfing the net you may have noticed that CAPTCHA letters are becoming more difficult to read. This is because botnets have been advanced enough to break them thanks to CAPTCHA-breaking software.

Providers have tried to fight back by enhancing the CAPTCHA process, which usually means making the letters difficult to read so CAPTCHA breaking software won't read it.

Like many aspects of computer security, it's an arms race between the CAPTCHA provider and the CAPTCHA breaker to see who has the best technology, either for defence or attack.

4 - Increased reputation hijacking

Thanks to the discovery of a fundamental flaw in the design of the internet DNS (Domain Name Service) protocol, it is in theory possible to poison a cache and cause somebody to be given the wrong IP address when it comes to something like email or simply surfing a website.

If in 2009 criminals successfully manage to take advantage of this flaw, it could lead to extremely serious repercussions. This is because criminals would be able to masquerade as a legitimate server and create a website which many people will be fooled into divulging credit confidential details.

5 - The new botnet generation

With the major botnets suffering a few hits at the back end of 2008 due to hosting services being taken down, these could move to other areas like Russia or China which may carry the technology for a more evolved type of malware.

MessageLabs described a particularly sophisticated type of botnet using hypervisor technology. This is where malware can exist as a virtualisation layer running directly on the hardware and intercepting key operating system calls.

This would mean the real operating system will remain unaware of the existence of underlying malware which is controlling the computer