General+Usage

GENERAL USAGE
** “Twitter ** is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read messages known as //tweets//. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the author's profile page and delivered to the author's subscribers who are known as //followers//. Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends or, by default, allow open access.” - Source: __Wikipedia__


 * The 140-character limit** serves to distinguish a “tweet” from other forms of networking communications. On the plus side, it forces the sender to be sparing, and precludes excessive verbiage; on the minus side, it presents a challenge if the user wants to say something meaningful. This brevity makes it somewhat similar to texting (//see also// Comparison to Other Tools), but there remains the difference between the more labor-intensive procedure of phone texting (with obvious reasons to develop and implement a cryptic, code-like language), versus the relative ease of typing on a keyboard, which produces a different style of shorthand – shorter words and incomplete sentences – with less of that “u” for “you” kind of thing, LOL. (Many middle-agers who never text have become avid tweeters!)

In partial response to this inherent size challenge, free Internet services have been created that shorten URLs for Twitter users, through a system of link re-direction. (//See// Usage With Other Tools.) An example of such a service is offered by **TinyURL**, which promotes itself as a solution to long, cumbersome emailed links which break and must be pasted back together (http://tinyurl.com/). Twitter – with its 140-character limit – is a natural beneficiary of this shortening feature, but it is not without risks. For instance, a site at __EvilDoersWreakingHavoc.com__ could have an innocuous masking link like __tinyurl.com/eggbeater__ - for an unsuspecting user to click on, only to be re-directed to an illegitimate site by some party who is using Twitter illegally. (//See also// Drawbacks to Use/Phishing.) Smart users should be selective when clicking on these shortened links, so take this into consideration if you are thinking of using them for your own links. Who might you scare off?

Back to the part about saying something meaningful. There are hilarious videos available that make fun of the tweeters’ propensity for sharing the mundane of the moment. Here’s a great example: [|Can Twittering be a Problem?] (warning: it’s 4:27 in length). In current practice, Twitter’s **primary uses** have expanded beyond the purely social, to play a growing role in political campaigns and emergency situations (//see// Other Fields/Government Sector Usage), as well as making inroads into education. Many people are happy to share simple details of their daily lives, while others tweet to connect with others “out there” who share their interests and aspirations. Serious twitterers build networks of followers who can identify them by their Twitter name. Celebrities brag about their numbers of followers.

Pear Analytics released a study in August, defining these leading categories of Twitter content:
 * Pointless babble – 40% //(ed’s note: “pointless babble” is their term)//
 * Conversational – 38%
 * Pass-along value (retweets) – 9%
 * News, SPAM, and self-promotion comprise the bulk of the remaining 13%

"This is the paradox of ambient awareness. Each little update — each individual bit of social information — is insignificant on its own, even supremely mundane. But taken together, over time, the little snippets coalesce into a surprisingly sophisticated portrait of your friends’ and family members’ lives, like thousands of dots making a pointillist painting. This was never before possible, because in the real world, no friend would bother to call you up and detail the sandwiches she was eating. The ambient information becomes like 'a type of E.S.P.,' as Haley described it to me, an invisible dimension floating over everyday life."
 * Pointless babble?** New York Times journalist Clive Thompson frames it differently. Following an interview with Twitter enthusiast Ben Haley (a documentation specialist), Thompson wrote:

__Sources__:

 Kelly, Ryan. “ Twitter Study Reveals Interesting Results About Usage – 40% is ‘Pointless Babble. ’” __Pear Analytics__ 12 August 2009. Accessed 11 November 2009 .

Thompson, Clive. "Brave New World of Digital Intimacy." __New York Times __ 5 September 2008. Accessed 14 November 2009 .  Wikipedia. Accessed 7 November 09 .