Twitter
Twitter is a social networking site where people communicate by posting 140 character messages (Tweets) that are then broadcast to any people who are following them.
How does the site know who to send the Tweets to? It sends the Tweets to everybody who has `followed' the person sending the message. The messages are also posted to a list called 'Everyone' that shows all the Tweets has posted in the last few seconds.
There are a lot of celebrities who post on Twitter and you can `follow' your favorites. Some people on Twitter have 100,000 of followers.
Regeristing is simple
WHO USES IT?
There are millions of people using Twitter and they are posting all sorts of messages. Some people are using Twitter to promote themselves or their businesses or to send news to the world and others just use it to tell their friends about what they are doing or thinking. Some people use the service as a way to keep a to do list or even to place job ads. If you can get the message into 140 characters, you can get the message out on Twitter.
The mobile website is at http://m.twitter.com/
WALK THROUGH
There are all sorts of ways to access Twitter. The simplest is through the mobile web site at
http://m.twitter.com.
Just link to the site using your phone's browser and put in your user name and password. You start by finding your friends on the site and then `follow' them to get their messages each time they post. They `follow' you and get your messages each time you post.
You can also send messages (Tweets) using SMS but you get the messages form the people you are following (except for a few places where Twitter has set up specials deals with phone companies).
Features
Embed your Twitter feed in your website or blog.
Use Twitter to update your status on sites like Facebook, MySpace, Blogger and Typepad.
See Tweets converted into news at http://breaking-tweets.alltop.com/.
Search Twitter at http://search.twitter.com/.
Limit a Tweet to just one person instead of sending it to all your followers.
Recommendations
Start out with a small group of friends or you will be overwhelmed by messages
Pros
Easy to use
Let's you keep up to date with friends or the latest news and views from, well, anywhere.
Cons
People report being overwhelmed by messages (depends how many people/companies/etc you are following!)
Doesn't let you set up multiple groups of friends and direct different messages to each group
Verdict
This is a handy tool for those who want to communicate with friends or associates in short messages. This could be a great collaboration tool for virtual teams.