Twitter - Micro-blogging Takes Off

Image via CrunchBase, source unknown "What are you doing?"

That's all that Twitter asks. The answers can vary from direct to totally unintelligible. Of course some of those answers come back in a foreign language, so unintelligible to me, may not be to you.

When I first heard about Twitter I didn't see much value and didn't pay much attention to it. But after reading about it on numerous blogs and seeing how others used it, I finally decided to set up an account and see what was going on. Setting up is free and pretty painless. You can supply as much information as you like or next to nothing at all. (Note: Don't believe everything you see on Twitter, I think there may be several Barack Obama's on there)

I think I'm addicted now. Maybe addicted is too strong, but I find myself checking in whenever I'm near a computer. For those truly addicted, you can even setup access to your cell phone. I'm tempted, but not ready for that level of commitment.

There are three things that have really made the difference for me and why I believe in this service.

Friends Make Twitter Friendly

The first is I took the time to set up 'Friends'. In Twitter you can watch all of the conversations going on in a continuous overwhelming flow or you can find interesting people to follow. I currently have about 70 'Friends' that I follow. That means I only see updates from this list (this is configurable in Twitter) and that right now is very manageable. I have a mixture of people I follow from industry experts, to fellow employees, to people that I find interesting. I also have found people around the world to follow.

Twhirl Tames Twitter

The second thing that really made using Twitter easy is an app called Twhirl . One of the drawbacks I ran into originally when using Twitter with their web interface was that I only would see an update when I refreshed the page. A minor issue, but just a little inconvenient.

Twhirl is a desktop app that runs in the background and checks for updates on a regular basis and shows a pop-up when there are new posts from your 'Friends'. Its very unobtrusive, but convenient to use and easy to set up.

Twitter in Action

The third thing that sold me on Twitter happened recently and was a series of events.

August 8, 2008 saw three major events occur in a relatively short period of time. In a matter of hours I saw several hundred posts that covered the Olympics opening in Beijing, the conflict beginning between Russia and Georgia beginning, and John Edwards admitting to an affair he had tried to conceal during his run for the presidency.

I found myself anticipating the pop-up's coming through Twhirl and watching for updates. I have 'Friends' set up around the world, so while we waited for the opening ceremonies at the Olympics in Beijing to broadcast tape delayed, I was getting updates. Not complete, but bits and pieces of things to watch for later that night. Kind of a direct feed preview with a few funny comments added along the way.

I have also found some news agencies that post short 'Breaking Stories' and they were coming across with updates constantly on the conflict in Georgia as it unfolded. I could of course always go over to CNN or any of the other news services that are on the web, but this combination brought the message directly to me.

That is why I find Twitter interesting and useful. You may try it and not catch on, but if you give it some time and a little effort I think you too will also become a fan.

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