I originally heard about Twitter on the Macworld episode of Macbreak, where Justine was preoccupied with the constant updates on her Treo…and I just had to check it out.
Twitter’s premise is a little bit difficult to figure out at first. Their motto “What are you doing?” does an excellent job of summing it up, but only after you dig for a few minutes (ironic, eh?). Fundamentally, Twitter is a service that lets you send updates on what you’re up to from your cell phone, IM client, or the web (update: there are programs like Twitterific that let you update without taking up a tab). Your buddies can choose to “follow” you, and will receive text messages when you send an update to Twitter.
For instance, I know that Leo Laporte uses Twitter…so I told Twitter to follow him by texting “follow leolaporte”. Now, throughout the day I get little gems of interest from Leo. Any time he posts an update, Twitter sends the update to my phone (or my IM client, if I choose).
They’re pretty clear that Twitter is not intended to be a replacement for your favorite IM system, but I can definitely tell that there’s some inside chit chat that takes place. Given that you’re broadcasting your updates to anyone who’s following you, it’s not uncommon for people to see your response to another person’s update, and have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.
Kinda fun, eh?
Anyway, I’m Twittering semi-regularly; it’s fun…and fits in nicely as a badge on Turnipville. You can find me on Twitter under the username “Turnip,” or at this page.
technorati tags:twitter, leolaporte, text, IM
March 4th, 2007 at 11:16 pm