Stay uber-connected all the time
Where to find it: Twitter
– www.twitter.com
Who runs the site: Evan Williams, the man behind other Web
phenomena such as Blogger and Odeo created Twitter. It is a
privately funded upstart based in San Francisco.
Who is likely to use the site: People who can’t get enough of
Facebook and MySpace status updates, text messaging or blogging, or
those who just want to constantly know what their friends and
family are up to
– minute after minute after minute.
Stay uber-connected all the time
Where to find it: Twitter – www.twitter.com
Who runs the site: Evan Williams, the man behind other Web phenomena such as Blogger and Odeo created Twitter. It is a privately funded upstart based in San Francisco.
Who is likely to use the site: People who can’t get enough of Facebook and MySpace status updates, text messaging or blogging, or those who just want to constantly know what their friends and family are up to – minute after minute after minute.
Pros: Twitter is basically a way for people to stay connected with family and friends with up-to-the-minute status updates. Users answer the question, “What are you doing” in under 140 characters and it is sent out via mobile texting, instant message or the Web. The reason Twitter is so popular is because its technology can accept texts from multiple social networking sites, instant messenger programs and cell phone text messaging technology.
The creators believe Twitter is more of an ambient approach to sharing information – friends and family get updates regularly, but unlike a text message or e-mail there is no expectation to respond. The program can be scheduled not to send Twitters during certain parts of the day, such as dinnertime.
As with most networking sites, Twitter accounts are free.
Cons: Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer my texts and e-mails to be one-on-one. And I really don’t think everyone I know needs to know what I just ate for lunch. There is something about automatic updates sent out in bulk about every minute of the day that just seems to be too much information. I’ll just stick to checking up on my friend’s status updates on social networking sites once a week.
