Twitter

If you haven't heard about Twitter yet, you soon will. Twitter is the latest Web 2.0 / social media application. It allows you to network with other people who share similar interests and aspirations as yourself. It has grown enormously since its inception.

Haven't we already been here before with Bebo, Facebook and the like? Yes and no is my answer. With Twitter, you can follow, find and communicate with people you do not know, and have never previously heard of. As a business vehicle, you can network, build relationships and strengthen your customer base. As a social vehicle, you can share ideas, information and have conversations with people.

The essence of Twitter is to inform people in 140 characters or less "What are you doing right now?" This is not enforced in any way, and you are free to compose whatever message you want. People twitter about all manner of things, from posting useful links to information, to what they're thinking or feeling, to what they are doing or planning to do, and anything else they can think of. To find out what someone is doing on Twitter, you follow them. That means that you will receive their tweets. A tweet is the name given to a message on twitter. You can reply back to a tweet, and have a conversation. If the tweet contains useful information, then you can relay the tweet to your own network of followers. This is called retweeting.

A huge collection of tools and applications has grown around Twitter, thus demonstrating it's ongoing success.

I use Twitter to connect with people who have similar interests, who I think are interesting, or who have useful information to share.

Twitter is a very simple concept, elegantly and brilliantly executed. It is so simple, I'm surprised no-one has thought of it before.

You can follow me on Twitter at @DomBurf