Friday, December 31, 2010

Twitter is microblogging, right?

Image representing Twitter as depicted in Crun...

Image via CrunchBase

Twitter is microblogging, right?

But what does that mean, and is it entirely accurate? Is Twitter a fad? What sets Twitter apart?
    • Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users' updates known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length which are displayed on the user's profile page and delivered to other users who have subscribed to them (known as followers). Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends or, by default, allow anybody to access them. Users can send and receive tweets via the Twitter website, Short Message Service (SMS) or external applications. The service is free to use over the Internet, but using SMS may incur phone service provider fees.
  • In my opinion...
  • Twitter breaks down the hierarchy (e.g. you can tweet directly to the author of something, to give feedback)
  • Twitter is a hybrid amongst chat/IM, feedback, news, marketing, and status (with public and private history).
  • Twitter is not email.
  • Twitter is dipping into the watercooler, to snatch a bit of thought (ideas), humor, or new things that you haven't heard of.
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Twitter should be flattered that Facebook's makeover aligned its functionality and appearance to that of Twitter. And BTW, I have feed my Twitter feed into my Facebook update stream, using the Facebook | Twitter app.

If you don't already have a Twitter account, you can join for free.
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