I just had to blog this, the Twitter Fan Wiki. There's some great stuff here. What I liked is the section that pulls together some phrases that describe twitter.
Challenged with trying to describe Twitter to your friends?
According to the official Twitter FAQ, "Twitter is a community of friends and strangers from around the world sending updates about moments in their lives. Friends near or far can use Twitter to remain somewhat close while far away. Curious people can make friends. Bloggers can use it as a mini-blogging tool. Developers can use the API to make Twitter tools of their own. Possibilities are endless!"
You may have other ideas. "What is Twitter?," here are more Twitteresque descriptions.
Note: As you come across descriptions on the Web, please link to them here.
Complete this sentence: Twitter is...
- burst-messaging tool, credited to Robin Good
- group instant messaging, credited to Robyn Tippins
- instant access presence service, with potential for emergency warning systems, credited to Mark H Jones
- microblogging, credited to Nivi
- mobile blogging, credited to Paul F. Roberts
- nano-blogging, credited to Carol Stimmel
- notification system, credited to Dave Winer
- round-the-clock updates, credited to BRAD STONE and MATT RICHTEL, New York Times article, April 30, 2007
What's your best phrase to describe twitter?
It's all those things, but for me the best phrase would be "virtual watercooler" (credited to Thomas Vander Wal. I'm the guy whose cubicle is right next to the watercooler, and as the tweets roll in on my IM and the notifications flash and fade on my screen, I get an ambient sense of what's happening out there among the hundred or so people I'm following. Sometimes I pop up and join the conversation, but most of the time I'm just giving a smidgeon of attention to Twitter; keeping half an eye on it helps me "pre-sort" what I want to give serious attention to. This is a really great thing for someone who suddenly is bereft of the geek community I had in NYC.
Posted by: Ian Wilker | July 16, 2007 at 07:17 PM