What is Twitter?
We say: Twitter is a mini-blogging device that can be accessed via the web, instant messaging and mobile phones. Users can send messages of one hundred and forty characters that are published either publicly or privately in a shared environment. Anyone with access to this environment can follow the flow of messages and comment, reply or simply keep up to date. Twitter can be used by groups of friends sharing gossip, groups developing ideas or colleagues in the same building deciding when to go to lunch!
Most recently, businesses have grasped the potential marketing significance of Twitter as a valuable promotional tool.
Wikipedia says:
Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send “updates” (or “tweets”; text-based posts, up to 140 characters long) to the Twitter web site, via the Twitter web site, short message service (SMS), instant messaging, or a third-party application such as Twitterrific or Facebook.
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, four gateway numbers are currently available: short codes for the United States, Canada, and India, as well as a United Kingdom number for international use. Several third parties offer posting and receiving updates via email.
