Twitter is amazing
May 27th, 2008 by Los Havros
A 140 word limit and the simple question, ‘what are you doing?’ is all that is needed for one of the most creative communication services on the internet. The limits imposed keep things simple, concise, and useful. The myriad of apps that have launched to take advantage of the Twitter platform are as diverse as they are creative. These are my thoughts on Twitter, more or less as they come out of my head. Therefore things might be a bit jumbled up, but I’ve tried my best editing here and there so that everything hopefully flows. Let’s continue, shall we?
Elliot Jay Stocks has written an excellent ‘blessay‘ on Twitter (which I strongly suggest you read) which amongst other detailed thoughts, describes Twitter as being a social network and if you have a lot of followers, a broadcasting tool. However I’d just like to add my own thoughts and opinions to the ongoing discussion. I think the reason that there is so much discussion about Twitter is because it has sprung into being one of the web’s hottest services in such a short period of time and people are still trying to figure out ‘what Twitter means for us’ i.e. all the different applications it may have that will advance communication and our ‘connections’ or different relationships with people.
Indeed, Twitter is changing the very way we communicate in the first place. It’s fresh, exciting and it works (most of the time). As for being a fount of knowledge; I have seen this done by people I am following, asking for help and suggestions. But for myself I don’t have that many people following me, so its use is quite diminished, as Elliot Jay Stocks goes on to mention.
Twitter’s appeal to me is that it it is faster than email, but not quite instant messaging. As all conversations (except private messages) are in the public domain, there is also a sense of community and intimacy. Some people have said that primarily web developers etc frequent Twitter a lot. Maybe so, but I can also follow news organisations that send headlines and blogs that send their latest posts to Twitter via twitterfeed.
I can follow people I respect and admire in the tech industry, and other people I share a common interest with. With the app for Twitter- twhirl, I can now receive tweets as they happen. This is truly web 2.0 and how the web was meant to be. Who knows? In another year or so, there maybe even more uses for Twitter.
I might do another post sometime soon going through what Twitter apps are available and if they have any practical use.
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