My partners and I were driving to Memphis the other day for a client meeting, while driving we were discussing various components of web2.0 that we liked / disliked. While on this topic we started talking about various projects that are out there and happened upon Twitter.
I first heard of Twitter while we were in Chicago this year for HostingCon. It was being talked up a bit out there but everyone I overheard discussing it were like, “what’s twitter?”. I signed up for an account while I was out there and tried to figure it out on my mobile phone. Honestly at the time I just didn’t get it. A few months down the road I decided to revisit Twitter because being in the industry that I am in it’s always in my clients best interests for me to stay up on emerging technologies so that I can relay back to them what’s relevant in todays marketplace. A few web2.0 applications out there I do deem relevant and I will blog about those later on but in this post I want to concentrate on Twitter…
What is Twitter you might ask? Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send “updates” (text-based posts, up to 140 characters long) to the Twitter website, via short message service, instant messaging, email, or an application such as Twitterrific. Twitter was founded in March 2006 by San Francisco start-up company Obvious Corp.
Updates are displayed on the user’s profile page and instantly delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. The sender can restrict delivery to those in his or her circle of friends (delivery to everyone is the default). Users can receive updates via the Twitter website, instant messaging, SMS, RSS, email or through an application. For SMS, currently three gateway numbers are available: short codes for the USA and Canada and a UK number for international use. Several third parties offer posting and receiving updates via email.
Due to Twitter’s success, a large number of sites imitating its concept have sprung up around the world, offering country-specific services (e.g. frazr) or combining the micro-blogging facilities with other ideas, such as filesharing (e.g. Pownce). In May, 2007, one source counted as many as 111 such “Twitter-lookalikes” internationally.
What can Twitter do for a business looking to initiate dialog with customers? Nothing as far as I can tell or imagine. What practical applications are there for Twitter for any of my clients? I honestly can’t think of a single client out there that might benefit from a product like this with the exception of a few celebrity clients we work with. Let’s say for example, if Mark Martin, NASCAR driver, were to open up a Twitter account and use SMS to somehow post notes as to what it is he is doing periodically during the day, there might be a few hundred thousand fans out there that would subscribe to his Twitter postings just because he is their favorite driver. Outside of an application like this I just can’t think of how Twitter could benefit any of us in the real world. Do you really care what I am doing right this very minute or what I plan on doing this evening? If you are, for some odd reason curious, then here is a Link to Twitter / powersitedesign which will allow you to follow my posts. Don’t be too dissapointed though, I promise I won’t be “Twitting” too much…
Questions or Comments?