So WHAT is Twitter?

[yasmina27]

And is it something I should investigate???

[AwakeAtLast]

1. I asked Mr. WMU that exact question today

Neither one of us knows....

[InternalDialogue]

2. It's a very stripped-back messaging service.

You post short text messages (400 characters or less) or pictures, which can be read by anyone following you on Twitter.

I'm on Twitter, but it seems to me to be most useful for someone who's usually mobile and trying to update friends on ongoing events. For me, checking in with people via DU/email/Facebook is more efficient.

Still, I see its value for quick-moving events when posters have limited time and resources -- no real web browser, for instance, or no patience for anything but the most elementary messaging.

[Phillycat]

3. 140 characters, not 400.

[InternalDialogue]

5. Ah, thanks. That sounds better.

I was just remembering/guessing (but I got two of the digits correct).

[Phillycat]

4. It's another social networking service.

This one allows you only 140 characters to say what you want to say, which makes you stay on point (unlike blogging, where you tend to run your mouth). The cool thing about Twitter for me is that you can set it to automatically update your Facebook status. I also have it running in the sidebar of my blog, so if I don't update my blog, people still know what's going on with me.

I love it, and most people I know who use it love it. But that's a self-selecting group. It depends how much time you're online at least as far as I'm concerned - I update exclusively online, through the Twitter gadget on my iGoogle home page. Although you can also do it on your phone via text - in fact, there are many people who Twitter exclusively from their phone, and receive their friends' Twitter updates by text as well.