CS: What the heck is Twitter, and why would I want to use it?

[fenrisfox]

[This is a rare public entry.]

Many people I know seem to be curious about what exactly Twitter is, and why they might want to use it. That's not easy to do; I myself was skeptical of the medium (I tend to resist popular trends, at least temporarily), until I gave in and tried it.

I will, however, give explaining it a try.

Comments

[cozycabbage]

Twitter would work perfectly with laptop, netbooks, desktops, and PDAs, Nintendo DS, as well as with cellphones. So really, it's a lot more than just the cellphone. It's probably most useful if you have a mobile device, like a Blackberry or a netbook.

[fenrisfox]

I have a major phone texting history - in fact, my verbosity has gotten me in trouble in there before.

That being said - as cozycabbage mentioned - it's far more than text messaging. I think the character limit is mainly to maintain compatability.

The people I follow on Twitter don't overuse abbreviations or substitute/phonetic spellings - it's quite intelligible. I've always tried to use "real words" when texting, as well.

[laini]

Sorry, still don't get it :P
Just can't see the appeal of it at all.

[fenrisfox]

Not everyone does.

One thing I didn't mention in the main article, is that if you're the type of person who prefers/better deals with a "single input" as opposed to "multiple inputs," Twitter's aggregation is a godsend over conventional instant messaging.

I hate having boxes popping up all over my screen with different people typing through them - but with Twitter (at least on the PC), it's all in a single stream of thoughts - one timeline.

[cozycabbage]

Personally, I hate the idea of using @ to denote a username. If someone says "@username: It's a wonderful day!" They're saying "At username: It's a wonderful day!" That works. They're talking at them. Their tweet is directed at them.

If someone says, "I was talking to @username," they're saying, "I was talking to at username," which is horrible.
In most places we use @ today, it still denotes 'at' (such as in emails).

I IS ENGLISH WHOERE [Except for this sentence]

[fenrisfox]

I understand what you mean; however, sometimes we've had to make minor compromises to our normal human use of language, in order to better utilize technology.

Having an @[username] in the middle of a sentence is one such compromise; while it's gramattically incorrect, it allows the computer to parse it properly. That way, [username] can find mentions of themselves.

(That's also why - on occasions when I wanted to warn followers about a malicious user I was blocking - I would use a dash instead of @ in front of the username when mentioning them. I didn't want Twitter to parse it, and let them know what I said.)

[cozycabbage]

Yeah, but you're using the english 'at'. I'm talking about using it to denote a variable, while pretending that you're using the english 'at'. The only reason people use "I was talking to @person" is because that parses it as a username.
They could as easily say, "@guyperson: Yeah, I was talking to ~randomfriend the other day, too!" I think sites like Deviantart and FA have already determined that usernames have ~ before them, and the symbol doesn't mean anything special in english.

Just out of curiosity, what happens if your tweet contains an email address? "I was talking to someone, and told them to mail me@site.com."

[fargowolf]

Here's a link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN2HAroA12w

[straydogstarbck]

Twitter confuses the heck out of me. I think I'm good sticking with the more manageable LJ, Facebook, and IM, st least for the time being.

[silverana]

To me twitter is like your facebook status

[fenrisfox]

Some people use Twitter primarily as a one-way medium, and others use it as a two-way medium.

From the sound of it, you use it mainly as the former; I use it mainly as the latter.

When used as a two-way medium, you'd be surprised who might respond to you! =:oD

[fenrisfox]

I don't find IM manageable at all - I hate the way it works. See my comment above to laini

(I'm not leaving LJ, you know. =:oP I think I can juggle both. ~ giggles ~ =:oD )