If you find yourself drinking coffee on a regular basis, you’ve probably thought about this at some point or another. You may even think about it every day, if you’re as anxious as I am.

Coffee tastes great and it provides some definite benefits to those who drink it, including significant boosts in energy. And there are hundreds of millions of people around the world who just wouldn’t want to live without it.

Many studies have been conducted on the effects of coffee, and they’ve found that a single cup of coffee can boost productivity by increasing a person’s alertness and sharpening his or her focus. If you’re looking for a way to work more efficiently, coffee might be a great way to give yourself a boost.

It’s clear that coffee can give us a mental boost, but unfortunately it’s still unclear whether it has a positive effect, a negative effect, or no effect at all on physical health. Coffee drinkers are likely to insist that it’s a harmless and innocent beverage, but others say that it can cause a variety of health problems.

Some research has shown that coffee does play a part in raising blood pressure levels when consumed regularly. It also increases heart rate, and these two effects together can frighten many people into avoiding coffee.

However, the same research points out that for such ill effects to be caused by coffee, an individual would have to consume large amounts over a long period of time. A cup a day, or something in that range, likely won’t cause any health problems.

Anti-oxidants are another subject that comes up in the discussion over the health benefits of coffee. Some recent studies have shown the presence of anti-oxidants in coffee beans, which are powerful compounds that may help reduce the risk of contracting diseases such as cancer. Coffee is an all-natural beverage, so it’s not far-fetched that it might contain these helpful agents. Red wine, another natural product, has also been identified as an anti-oxidant carrying beverage.

Whatever your beliefs on coffee, it’s still important to consume it in moderation, as with any food or beverage. Even if something hasn’t been definitively proven to be unhealthy, it’s still easy to overindulge and have too much of one thing. Always be careful with stimulants such as coffee, especially as you grow older.

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Twitter, based in California and valued at over 1bn has rolled out their plan for ‘promoted tweets’. The move is in a bid to honour its 1bn valuation as it so far does not make any money. So far, in the four years it s been running, Twitter has managed to resist any move towards traditional advertising, claiming they are looking to build value before profit.

Recently launched was the eagerly awaited ‘promoted tweets’, a marketing opportunity that Twitter co-founder Biz Stone describes as “ordinary tweets that businesses and organisations want to highlight to a wider group of users”.

To keep the natural feel of Twitter, the executives insist the tweets “resonate with users”, only allowing tweets to remain present if they are retweeted and replied to in order to prevent a spam effect. Initially, the tweets will appear at the top of search results like Google ’sponsored links’ but a second development will see them integrated into the feeds of individual users.

There are thousands of companies that have made successful use of twitter but a handful of large international firms have really created ROI. Starbucks has primarily used Twitter as a promotional tool but also a platform for customer service. It has been hugely successful in promoting customer interaction and relationships with the brand.

Starbucks almost became public enemy number one after their ruthless drive for monopolisation with their overpriced coffee. However they were able to successfully manage social media, namely twitter, in a way that promoted their customer interaction and build personal relationships with consumers. Using the promoted tweets would allow Starbucks to reach millions of potential customers and, if managed like their usual tweets, should build relationships with an even bigger group of customers.

Experts have said how companies like Starbucks could provide offers and discounts to anyone who ‘retweets’ a message which could provide a huge level of ‘word-of-mouth’ promotion at no extra cost than the original tweet.

Starbucks have also begun to offer discount to customer who bring their own mugs rather than using disposable cups in a bid to tackle their environmental impact.