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Why You Should Use Twitter

Byrichard

Twitter is a short message that are only 140 characters long. It can be used in three ways. The first is by instant messenger, the second is by text messaging to your mobile phone and the third is via the web interface.

It’s referred to as microblogging, although not by me. I see it as being something more powerful.

The BBC, Google, and other companies have already used it for showing people what the latest news is. Of course, with such a medium you have to be careful not to send too many messages or people will give up.

Where it would come into its element is traffic info, radio schedules, or even event notifications. Imagine that you knew about this before rag week and that many of your friends were members. You could tell them “just finished ragging, on my way back to uni” or “only 20 tickets left for an event”. In other words, you can let people know what an organisation is doing quite easily.

Another way to enhance this is when you’ve got quite a lot of friends and they’re all members. “Hey, just handed in my assignment, going to sit in the grass outside halls, welcome to join” and many people who might have been bored now know where to find you.

Of course, you’re paying the price of SMS (text messaging) if you’re away from the computer but it’s at a local tariff to the best of my understanding. It’s an interesting development, similar to the status bar in many of the current messengers and on Facebook.

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Twitter

Byrichard

The idea that people expose their lives for everyone to read on sites like Flickr, blogger, and many others is a strange one. How often have you seen people partying with their friends yet not knowing a single one of them? It’s a voyeur’s paradise at the moment.

I was listening to Net a night with Leo Laporte and Amber McArthur speaking with the creator of blogger, Odeo, and Twitter. Le was talking about how addictive it is and how it’s a mini-blog.

It also reminds me of the Facebook status bar.

That’s because twitter is about short messages. The messages may originate as easily from a mobile phone as Instant Messenger or the web interface. There are several hundred people who are saying what they’re up to at that moment in time. Examples are “I’m in the queue, third person to the left or “I’m doing housework” and “just got up and it’s a beautiful day.

They’re short, instants in time which individuals decide to share.

Individuals are not the only ones using this technology. I’ve noticed that google news, BBC world service, and news, CNN, and others are using twitter to share news on upcoming events and current affairs. It’s an interesting way of keeping informed on current goings-on around the world.

Due to the nature of the communications, the messages are usually short, to the point, and with Tiny URL. This is because a normal URL would take up all the characters.

Another naming convention is the @name concept. When you’re sending a message to a particular friend and you want them to know that it’s to them that it’s addressed @name seems to work.

I’ve only been trying it for a little over twelve hours so far though