What is Twitter?

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Twitter is commonly known as posting daily short burst messages, called “tweets”, to the world. What people do on twitter is called “tweeting”. When asked the question "What is Twitter?", I would always say it’s a social networking service, but truth be told Twitter is more than that. There is no clear cut definition for the service because Twitter is actually used for many purposes. So for those unfamiliar with tweeting, here is a short overview.

Twitter is a micro-blogging platform

People use to share quick updates containing a very limited number of characters, not more than 140 characters. It’s a practical fast tool for keeping people, namely friends, informed on what you are doing. Twitter is a social microblogging service that allows you answer the question "What are you up to?" by sending short messages. In fact, micro-blogging is for people who want to blog but don't have the ability or willingness to run a blog of their own. Not everyone is ready to spend countless hours building and maintaining a blog, and you may know running a website requires money, time and more importantly a lot of dedication. Sometimes, one just wants to share something simple or let’s say trivial sort of "no special plans tonight, just staying home" or "Now enjoying my coffee in Abraço Espresso". You may just need to say what's up and stop there. Indeed, Twitter, when officially went into service in March 2006, started with a short message, a short tweet by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey who said "just setting up my twttr”. This was the first tweet ever.

In fact, micro-blogging is not restricted to Twitter, it’s actually a popular feature of many social networks like Facebook where users can drop short updates in their status wall. Twitter has taken micro-blogging to a higher level; that’s why it’s said that micro-blogging has become best known thanks to Twitter.

Twitter is a Social Messaging Network

Twitter is grown into a big Social Messaging service with the ability to post brief messages (140 characters or less) so to keep in touch with your friends and quickly broadcast information about what you are doing and where you are. You can also build new friendships. Twitter allows its users to follow people and have followers themselves too.

Twitter is Amateur News Reporting

The easiness and rapidity of tweeting have made of Twitter a popular Amateur News Reporting platform. Ordinary people like you and me can be amateur, “citizen” journalists reporting and sharing anything that they think interesting about their daily life. I dare say that Twitter has become pretty muck like TV streaming ticker that we see on news channels. 24 hours/7 days non-stop of reporting. Just see BBC or CNN, or any other news station; you'll see a news ticker streaming there right at the bottom of the screen. Twitter appears to work just like that given the amount of information and updates reported every second. According to Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, tweeters (Twitter users) send an accumulative of more than 1 billion tweets every 2.5 days, over 350 million tweets every day.

Twitter has contributed a great deal to “Citizen Journalism”, and what happened during the turmoil events after the Presidential elections in Iran and the Arab Spring revolutions is good proof. Many Arab activists

Twitter is Social Media Marketing

Aware of its potentiality and reach, many use Twitter as a marketing tool to advertise their activity. This applies to companies, politicians, celebrities and so on. They use it to interact with customers, fans and followers. Stars tweet to quickly connect in a very friendly and personal way with their audience. Celebrities Like Rihanna, Gaga, Ashton Kutcher, even President Barack Obama regularly tweet their daily updates. Talking about Mr. Obama, this social platform has come in effectively handy during his Presidential campaign.

Barack Obama used Twitter during Presidential Elections

In brief, Twitter is a blend of many different things. It is about micro-blogging and instant social messaging. It is a marketing tool and a news reporting service. Twitter describe itself very well as “the fastest, simplest way to stay close to everything you care about”. You can actually see and track photos, videos and conversations at a glance. What stands Twitter out from other networks is how rapid and scan-friendly it is.