microblogging

The appeal of microblogging is both its immediacy and portability. Because posts are so brief (typically 140 – 200 characters), a microblogger can update his microblog often enough to keep readers informed as events, whether large or small, unfold. Anyone with a cell phone can send and receive updates any time, anywhere. Users can send messages as text, video or audio. Several social networking Web sites, including Twitter, are promoting microblogging as a convergence of several types of presence technology. Here's Twitter's self-description: "A global community of friends and strangers answering one simple question: What are you doing?"

Twitter users have come up with new terms to differentiate the practice. Posts are called "tweets," for example, and the community is known as the "twitosphere." Posts submitted can't be edited or deleted; posts that are regretted are called "mistweets." The Twitter site includes a simple API (application-programming interface) that twitterers, as they call themselves, can use to create their own applications. One such application, for example, a mash-up with Google Maps called Twittervision, shows users the geographical location of posters.

A common criticism of microblogging is the trivial nature of most posts:

I've been dorking with Twitter .. still trying to figure out if it's a great waste of time, or a lousy waste of time. I'm sure the cool kids are using it via SMS, but something about having my phone buzz me to learn that one of my friends is now eating a cookie just doesn't get me that excited. ~ BobPage.net

Although microblogging started as a way for young and technologically savvy users to keep in touch, the practice is moving into the mainstream. In the United States, for example, Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John Edwards started microblogging details from the campaign trail. Some traditional media organizations, including The New York Times and the BBC, have begun to send headlines and links in microblog posts. Other potential applications of microblogging include traffic and sports updates and emergency broadcast systems.

Read more about microblogging: - This PBS article provides a guide to microblogging and Twitter. - Twitter supplies a FAQ list. - Robert Scoble discusses microblogging with Jaiku founders (video). - Jaiku describes the process of setting up a microblog in its guided tour. - We blogged (old school) about Twitter's background and potential.

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