The Many Faces of Twitter

: Image via CrunchBase

So, recently I decided to get back into the collaborative web 2.0 thing. And, I started with Twitter. This ended up being the perfect door into the collaborative web.

First of all, I should mention that I’m interested in the collaborative web because I’m interested in people and their genius. And, I’m interested in thinking about new ways for them to work together to realize their genius.

Twitter is a type of application known as a micro-blogging application. Micro-blogging is exactly what it sounds like. It is blogging involving tiny 140 character blog entries. These blog entries, in Twitter, are called Tweets. You find people to follow, and you see their tweets. They follow you and they see your tweets…simple. Incidentally, the 140 character limit is based on texting limits. You can both tweet and get tweets via texting on your mobile phone.

When I first read about Twitter I excused it as useless. I figured it was more “noise” contributing to the signal-to-noise ratio of the interactive web…enter human genius. ANY TIME you forget to take into account the effects of human creativity and genius, you will be wrong. And, I was wrong.

Twitter ended up becoming almost every type of application. It ended up with many faces…fueled by the human minds. Below are some of them:

Blogging – For when you can communicate something meaningful in 140 characters.
RSS Feeds – Most Twitterer’s links to their latest blog entries…I do.
Social Bookmarking – Most Twitterer’s share their favorite links…again, I do.
Social Networking – I, for instance, like to follow software developers, web designers, and people interested in the Semantic Web. To be honest, though, if you are a human and you follow me, I will follow you. I’m interested in all sorts of minds…not just those like my own.
Professional Networking – I’ve read about job offers via Twitter.
Chatting – You can send tweets that are replies to other tweets.
Advertisement - Some tweet to peddles their goods and services. Here is a good example.
Community Building – Groups of like minded people that share similar aims in life or reside in the same geographical location will follow each other in a manner similar to groups in MySpace or Facebook.
Online Collaboration – You can leverage the knowledge and creativity of your Twitter community.
Interactive TV – Julie Banderas from Fox News Channel reads tweets on the air and even has voting to decide whether or not take take commercial breaks.

Let me know if you have other uses of Twitter. This interests me a lot. I’m on twitter as @purecognition. Better yet, send me a comment. I don’t get many of those.

The Latest On Twitter: CEO Williams Talks (paidcontent.org)
Follow blog on twitter (tissuepathology.typepad.com)
Twitter Facebook Analogy (arnoldit.com)
Why I use Twitter (socialmediatoday.com)
Study: Twitter users are mobile, urban, and engaged online (arstechnica.com)

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Tags: Collaborative Web, FaceBook, Fox News Channel, Lost, Most Twitterer, MySpace, RSS, Social network, Social network service, Software Development, Twitter, Web 2.0

Web 2.0 | Nathan | February 17, 2009 12:22 am

11 Comments

By Sai Gudigundla, February 17, 2009 @ 11:10 am

I like the ways in which you use Twitter. I think it’s interesting that you did NOT mention (although you can argue that it overlaps with other uses that you mentioned) using Twitter to post your status (which is what it started of as anyways). I use Twitter for most of those things esply 1, 2, 3 & 4. For me Twitter is a major source of technology news. Most of the people I follow are Web Designers/Developers. It’s fun to see what everyone is working on.

Another way I use Twitter is in conjunction with Google. Let’s say I am looking for some free PSDs online. Besides Googling for it I started searching Twitter and I should say that I am impressed with how much information is available on Twitter.
By Nathan, February 17, 2009 @ 11:45 am

You’re right. I didn’t add the status update use case. I literally forgot about it.
By Kiril The Cycling Dude, February 17, 2009 @ 11:46 pm

An excellent article!

In the 6 years since I was one of the 1st BikeBloggers I’ve seen BikeBlogging grow in many ways, including the use of YouTube, and Podcasting.

Now, via Twitter, networking has taken on a whole new meaning for our Community.

A leading BikeBlogger has been organizing a comprehensive list of all those cyclists, from the regular joe with a blog, to the athlete, and industry insiders who are on Twitter so eveyone can find like minded folks on Twitter.

The Mad Macedonian

http://twitter.com/Mad_Macedonian
By Gaye Galvin, February 18, 2009 @ 9:44 am

Thanks..this was perfect…and it helps me understand very simply!
By Nathan, February 18, 2009 @ 4:21 pm

Thanks, Kiril. My father is a dedicated cyclist. I have sent him the URL to your blog.
By Lisa, May 18, 2009 @ 12:55 pm

Wow! that’s really amazing. Thanks for sharing
By Myspace Layouts 2.0, May 29, 2009 @ 4:35 pm

Twitter will became as myspace did, commercial and marketing. nice article, thanks
By isa from lmyspacefresh.com, July 19, 2009 @ 6:47 pm

twitter will def become as popular as myspace. nice article!
By Brian from forex news, July 20, 2009 @ 6:04 am

Indeed, Twitter is on the way to dominate the internet!!! HAHAHAHA…. (evil laughter) What a great post! Thanks.
Brian@forex news´s last blog ..Earnings Will Drive Markets This Week
By Corrinne from Forex, October 22, 2009 @ 4:07 am

Very good looking site with a lot of information.I love it.Will revisit it soon.
Cheers