Twitter

I listened to This Week In Tech today. I almost turned it off about half way through because it was so boring, but I'm glad I powered through. The conversation turned to Pownce, and eventually Twitter. The question was raised at the purpose of Twitter and why people use it when it doesn't work as well as Pownce.

The short answer is that people user Twitter because their friends are using Twitter. And if you're using something else, you're still using it on the side. Most of the people that are my followers on Pownce were my followers first on Twitter.

I'll be honest. When I first heard about Twitter (on TWIT), I thought it was a ridiculous idea. 140 characters? Microblogging? This is madness!

This is Twitter!!!

Now I'm completely hooked. It's the first site I open. The one I refresh at least a hundred times a day (wonder why it's down so much). And the one I obsessively send text messages to. It has literally become the one site that I cannot imagine not having.

There are so many uses for Twitter. I see news pop up faster on Twitter than anywhere else. Someone dies and it's instantly on Twitter. Game news spreads like wildfire in the group that I follow. People hook up for gaming sessions, podcasts, and just bullshit sessions on the site every night.

It is also a way to promote yourself. It's easy to post a link to your latest blog post or podcast url. And, if someone becomes too much of a nuisance with all their tweets, just stop following them.

Basically, I use the site to communicate, to complain, to promote, and to exclaim. When I say something funny, I can instantly type it in and hit send. Now everybody sees it. It's awesome!