Twitter’s Position on the Web
April 9th, 2008 | Categories: blogs, chat, networks, social media, trendsWhat exactly is Twitter? It’s universally recognized as a “micro-blogging platform”, but its functionality extends beyond that. Twitter’s versatility is what makes it so useful and effective. It is also a major driver behind the success of the company. Serendipitously, Twitter has uncovered an unknown niche nestled between instant messaging and e-mail.
Instant messaging encompasses real-time text messaging. Communication isn’t very deep. This medium is optimal when a prompt response is needed. In general though, it’s an invasive attention sink and kills productivity. E-mail messages tend to be longer and get viewed when convenient. However, more information can be presented in a more structured manner. The downside is a delayed response time.
The versatility of Twitter allows the service to be used as an IM client or e-mail system. It can also function as a blog and has also proven to be a great tool for information dissemination and aggregation. Twitter also possesses advantages in terms of discussion over many traditional forms of communication.
It is truly a tool that benefits people in different ways. Some might find little value in it, while others may use it for various purposes. The bottom-line is that Twitter is as powerful as you want it to be.
April 9th, 2008 at 5:55 am
After being dismissive of Twitter, I climbed on the bandwagon a few months ago. What I’m discovering is Twitter has potential to be all kinds of things for all kinds of people. A good example is it’s use as a mini-blogging platform. There are many issues, stories, etc. that I’m interested in blogging about but doing it on Mark Evans Tech doesn’t seem like the right fit. Enter: Twitter.
As well, I came across a cool Twitter photo site called TwitPic.com, which hints at Twitter’s use as a multi-media platform.
April 9th, 2008 at 9:53 am
I too have jumped on the bandwagon and am really getting into it. Why? News.
The reason I took so long is because I didn’t know anybody on twitter. I had no twitter friends! And I still only know a handful of people personally (I just added you though!)
Most of the people I “follow” are industry leaders in our field. This is how I’ve gotten most of my news recently. Announcements of new apps launching or people sharing a link to something industry related - has been very cool.
Some bloggers I subscribe to in RSS announce their best posts in twitter so I’m finding I’m not getting to the RSS feed as much.
“If the news is important, it will find me”
April 13th, 2008 at 4:36 am
I still find it curious that Twitter is touted as micro-blogging. To me, it always feels like instant messenger, without all the stifling hangups
IM 2.0
April 22nd, 2008 at 2:50 am
I’ve read some real good passages over here:
“proven to be a great tool for information dissemination and aggregation”
“There are many issues, stories, etc. that I’m interested in blogging about but doing it on Mark Evans Tech doesn’t seem like the right fit. Enter: Twitter”
“Most of the people I “follow” are industry leaders in our field. This is how I’ve gotten most of my news recently. Announcements of new apps launching or people sharing a link to something industry related - has been very cool.”
when I first visited Twitter, I immediately said it would replace mail, IM and bookmarking sites (all to some extent anyway), though I came from a very critical article about its uselessness
microblogs are the first global instant mass media, within five minutes any news can be spread around the globe
there are English, Chinese, Spanish, Russian, French, Korean, German, Japanese, Portuguese, Arabic, Italian, Turkish, Dutch, Polish microblogs…
all seem to accept English language postings with an url to an English blogarticle (sometimes urls aren’t clickable though…)
any way, any major news is spreadable within minutes of happening