Twitter and Microblogs
Twitter is a popular service used to send short messages. It started around SMS text messaging on phones, so Twitter messages are restricted to no more than 140 characters. Twitter is part of an evolving class of services called microblogs, although most other microblogs have given up on the SMS text messaging constraints and allow features beyond the simple text message.
Twitter gained popularity, not only for its ease of use on cellphones, but by allowing a lot of third-party tool and app development around its service. Twitter purchased some of these tools, and others remain popular alternative choices to Twitter’s core offering.
Why would you use Twitter? The short messages are great for pointing out items of interest, letting your friends know what you’re feeling, or critiquing a conference as it happens. Twitter is good for business, too. If your business is transportation, you can let the riders know about delays. If your business is weather-dependent, you can let your customers know if you need to make cancellations. You can also use Twitter to advertise specials, promote your latest accomplishments, or deepen your customer engagement by having a conversation about their needs. Or, you can just listen to what your customers or colleagues in the industry are saying.
NOTE: Twitter infamously played a role in former U.S. Rep. Anthony Wiener’s fall from grace. And off-color Twitter jokes lost comedian Gilbert Gottfried his ongoing role as the voice of the Aflac duck.
If that gives you pause, it should. One of the appeals of Twitter is its immediacy; but unlike a conversation you have at a company party, this conversation is potentially with the entire world.
The Mechanics and Culture of Twitter
Twitter consists of a series of small posts known as tweets. Originally these tweets were unconnected and unthreaded, so you had a stream of what looked like totally random posts from all the people you read, or followed. This gave Twitter the feel of a noisy party. As you wandered through the party, you could hear snippets of conversations, but you couldn’t be sure of who said what. I’m not the only one to make that analogy. There’s a book on the topic: Social Media Is a Cocktail Party, by Jim Tobin and Lisa Braziel (CreateSpace, 2008).
TIP: If you are already a Twitter user, the sections that follow will be a bit of a review. Feel free to skip ahead to the “Choosing a Twitter App” section later in this chapter.
@Replies
A lot of the social conventions of Twitter were built around its weaknesses. All of these conventions made efficient use of characters because there’s a 140-character limit on Twitter. In order to tag the person you were responding to, the convention of the @reply (pronounced “at reply”) was introduced. Specifically, you used the @ sign next to the username of the person to whom you were replying. The convention has since been added to Twitter’s interface, and it’s available in every app I’ve tested.
Direct Messages
Direct messages are private messages sent between two people who follow each other. For example, DM@UserName is the convention for typing a direct message. It may be even simpler in some apps, but you should never assume anything you say is ever truly private.
Retweets and Modified Tweets
You can also repeat, or retweet, a clever post using the convention of RT @UserName. Some also use MT @UserName to show that a tweet has the same concept, but has been modified from the original—usually shortened or with added commentary. Twitter built an easy retweet feature into its interface, but many still prefer to use the old convention, so they can add commentary.
Hashtags
Because tweets are not sorted by topic, it’s hard to search by category. Also, there’s no way to add a tag or label, as you can with many long-form blogs. Hashtags are an elegant solution to the problem. Hashtags consist of a hash sign (#) followed by a label with no spaces, such as #tablets or #Android. This creates an unlikely character combination that can be easily searched. Hashtags are also used for sarcastic commentary.
URL Shorteners
URL shorteners solve the 140-character problem when it comes to website links. These are third-party tools that create a small URL that redirects people to the longer URL you want to point people to. The URL shorteners themselves have become tinier over the years; so rather than using TinyURL.com, many users have switched to bit.ly or ow.ly. Some services also offer added value, like analytics to measure how many people clicked a shortened URL.
NOTE: There are some great reasons for using a shortened URL, but you should avoid casually using one in places where it’s unnecessary. Any time you use an URL shortener, you’re putting a third party between the user and his or her destination. The service could have an outage or even go out of business and leave users stranded. This happened with Tr.im in 2010.
Picture Services
Twitter didn’t originally allow you to embed pictures, but it did allow you to easily link to pictures. All sorts of Twitter-related picture services offer storage and easy linking for posting pictures from your phone or tablet. Popular services include Twitpic and Yfrog. Many of these services are built into the apps you use to post.
Lists
You follow or unfollow other Twitter users to see (or not see) their activity in your stream. You can also list them, which means you add them to a group of other users you follow for reading by category.