Twitter

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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