3W Design Group - Media

I just opened an account at Twitter today and have officially entered the world of micro-blogging. Twitter is considered micro-blogging because it limits you to 140 characters or less per post. Of what use is this to the business world? Before I contemplate that question any further let me explain what Twitter is.

According to Twitter’s blog:

Twitter is for staying in touch and keeping up with friends no matter where you are or what you’re doing. For some friends you might want instant mobile updates—for others, you can just check the web. Invite your friends to Twitter and decide how connected you want you to be.

According to Wikipedia:

Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send “updates” (text-based posts, up to 140 characters long) via SMS (text messaging), instant messaging, email, the Twitter website, or an application such as Twitterrific.

Upon closer observation, Twitter seems best described as a blogging solution for people who have a little bit to say, many times throughout the day. Every Twitter post is limited to 140 characters or less. And isn’t this what the Web does best? Take an “old school” technology like blogging, tweak it into a new product and along the way invent a whole new language or Twitter-speak.

Twitter is another of the technologies that further expands the reach of Web 2.0 and social media. It gives people who may not like the time commitment of a blog, a way to create an online personal diary in abbreviated form. It was also super easy to set up which was a relief after my forray into MySpace. Unlike my long suffering MySpace page, my Twitter page will be a breeze to update and keep current.

But here is the difference - the reason for an entity to have a MySpace page can seem obvious. MySpace opens up a huge social network to advertisers, politicians and more. I am still contemplating the business applications for a Twitter page. That’s part of the beauty of the Web. The entrepreneurial spirit that exists online will chew up this new technology and spit it out as something useful and profitable, of that I am sure.

In the meantime, I intend to explore Twitter - 140 characters at a time.

UPDATE: I just read an article at Wired.com that puts the Twitter phenom in perspective. It’s worth the read: Clive Thompson on How Twitter Creates a Social Sixth Sense