Twitter
What exactly was the website Twitter made and used for as originally intended?
Twitter is part of the
WEB 2.0 effort.
There is no new Internet. The version 2.0 Web is the way the net is used with a plethora of new applications.
Web 2.0 for most folks speaks to social networking sites. Twitter was a 140-character social network effort. Why 140 characters? That's the character limit for many cell phones on Text Message.
Like this site, a social network site comes along to enable communication. Unlike this site, using Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc. there is no EASY way to interact from a mobile device. Looks like Dean is adding Web 2.0 interfacing to the site. You can share to Facebook and a host of others.
This is very important to the Generation X and Y folks. They care about who they follow. In fact, they very well may be selective about who they follow. Their followers will want to know their every move (so they think).
Twitter, in its most rudimentary form, is a GIANT party line (item four on my phone) where everyone's comments about anything are recorded. YOUR Twittering is roaming through the room, hearing something said that makes you think something you write back to the person commenting. One continuous buffet of text could be used to describe Twitter.
Part of the Web 2.0 experience is that, for example, on FACEBOOK and MySpace, I have friends. They like those respective services. Some are on both; most are not.
So, as a concerned Civil Servant, I want to engage my Citizens in the place where they are. I don't want them to have to go outside so they can hear the siren when I sound them. I want to give them WARNING inside, where they are, so....
Now, there are services, such as HelloTxt and Ping that let me send my 140-character update that goes to Twitter, Facebook, and Myspace simultaneously. That, in turn, hits their cellphone, email, or web page, depending on how they have their service configured.
OH! There's more! It slices and dices!
Using the adjunct services, such as OutTwit (Outlook to Twitter interface) and HelloTxt, I am no LONGER limited to the 140-character limit. I can write the GREAT American Novel, such as this post, and Twit it to the World. THAT defeats the purpose of quick, IMO.
Features such as TwitPic lets one Tweet their pictures to their followers. Utility here is that the Citizen can send me a Twit of the tornado they are telling me they are seeing so I'll believe them enough to sound the sirens.
OH! There's more!
Now I can update Twitter by SMS and Email and when I post to the
Altus EM Blog, the update is also sent to Twitter, automatically.
Since I don't have time to sit and monitor mostly boring chit-chat resembling that where
Hors d'œuvres are served or a bar, especially a sports bar when the
University of Oklahoma is playing, there's a process that scans Twitter and sends me an email of the search terms that interest me. It should be no surprise that Altus is one of them.
Remember, this is communication in its most basic form (at least it's supposed to be). Therefore, it can be used for all
sorts of causes, some of which are less than honorable.
The GEN X & Y folks have no problem with this because they KNOW who they follow. After all, they are their
friends.
As someone noted elsewhere, when one gets information they need to know the communication is accurate. This ONE fact alone is why
Snopes is so valuable.
After all, how do YOU know I am who I say I am. Only one person here has actually seen me, face to face.
So now, all that to say that Twitter is a social networking site that ties people together.
One of these days, I'll learn to write less.
