Twitter

URL = http://twitter.com/

Description

"Twitter allows users to send and receive abbreviated communications or "digital shorthand" from a computer or mobile device. These are called "Tweets." The open-source nature of the application has spawned countless "mash-ups" where Twitter technology merges seamlessly with other open-source technologies such as Google Maps. Widgets and desktop applications such as Twitteroo and Twitterific take you outside of the browser and act as a sort of social instant messenger, sending and receiving rapid bursts of text and links." (http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/apr2007/id20070409_372598_page_2.htm)

Characteristics

Howard Rheingold on why he uses Twitter:

"My reasons:

Openness — anyone can join, and anyone can follow anyone else (unless they restrict access to friends who request access)

Immediacy — it’s a rolling present. You won’t get the sense of Twitter if you just check in once a week. You need to hang out for minutes and hours, every day, to get in the groove.

Variety — political or technical argument, gossip, technical info, news flashes, poetry, social arrangements, classrooms, repartee, scholarly references

Reciprocity — people give and ask freely for information they need (this doesn’t necessarily scale or last forever, but right now it’s possible to tune your list — and to contribute to it — to include a high degree of reciprocation)

A channel to multiple publics — I’m a communicator and have a following that I want to grow and feed. I can get the word out about a new book or vlog post in seconds — and each of the 1300 people who follow me might also feed my memes to their own networks. I used to just paint. Now I document my painting at each stage of the process, upload pix to flickr or flicks to blip.tv, then drop a tinyurl into Twitter. Who needs a gallery or a distributor?

Asymmetry — very interesting. Very few people follow exactly the same people who follow them.

A way to meet new people — it happens every day

A way to find people who share interests — I follow people I don’t know otherwise but who share an interest in educational technology, video, online activism.

A window on what is happening in multiple worlds, some of which I am familiar with, and others that are new to me." (http://www.smartmobs.com/2008/02/23/why-im-hooked-on-twitter/)

More Information

1. Study: What People Do on Twitter: three types of conversations
2. Twitter is a form of Lifelogging, Lifestreaming, Microblogging
3. Aspects of Twitter: Exhaust Data, Phatic Communication, Ambient Intimacy