Wikipedia defines Twitter as “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.”
“Tweeting” something can be seen as the Twitter equivalent to changing your status on Facebook, one of the biggest Twitter rivals. Bloggers use Twitter to let their followers know that they have posted something new on their blog and this generates traffic (and yes, traffic is your friend when you’re a blogger). This may sound like this only generates moderate traffic, but when you have 65000 followers (which is not unheard of on Twitter) and only 10 percent of your followers visit the link you post, it’s still a significant amount of users who visit your site. Twitter shortens a long URL into its own format, eg http://tinyurl, which saves a lot of characters since only 140 characters are allowed for updates. Various plugins have been developed for WordPress users to give readers the option to “tweet” their post. Twitter also has a Facebook application and has also been integrated into the new Digg Bar.
Celebrities like Ashton Kuster, Britney Spears and Demi Moore, politicians like Barack Obama and Al Gore have also jumped on the Twitter bandwagon to keep in touch with their fans / supporters. News sources like CNN and the New York Times are also on Twitter providing their followers with news updates. The possibilities seem to be endless.
Twitter surely has taken the Internet and the World by storm. The company was founded in 2006 in San Fransisco, California in the USA. Recently applications have been introduced for the Iphone and Blackberry and other similar devices that enhance Twitter and gives the user the ability to access and update their account easily when they’re on the move. Twitter has more than 6 million users and is growing exponentially (at a rate of more than 1000%). I have 248 followers (last time I checked) on Twitter. My Twitter page can be found here.
Related Links:
Twitterholic – Top Twitter User Rankings and Stats
Twitter Lingo and Tips for New Twitter and Facebook Users – Kikolani.com
How Twitter Works – How Stuff Works
How Twitter Was Born – 140characters.com
Twitter hot, sure, but what does it all mean? – Oregon Living
Twitter Lists – Mashable.com
Thanks for including my link for Twitter resources. There are new people on Twitter everyday that could use this kind of information about why they should be there, and what to do when they are there.
~ Kristi
I love the new look
Alet: Thank you for your comment.
Kristi: My pleasure. I still have a problem with trying to educate South Africans on how to use it though