Micro-blogging is a Social Media tool that combines elements of blogging with instant messaging.
The clear leader in the micro-blogging field is Twitter with over 1 million users.
There are other notable micro-blogging players include Pownce and Jaiku, which offer various different features, but for the purposes of this post I’ll focus on the Twitter format.
Twitter has grown into a real-time short messaging service that works over multiple networks and devices.
In countries all around the world, people follow the sources most relevant to them and access information via Twitter as it happens—from breaking world news to updates from friends.
Simplicity has played an important role in Twitter’s success. People are eager to connect with other people and Twitter makes that simple. Twitter asks one question, “What are you doing?” Answers must be under 140 characters in length and can be sent via mobile texting, instant message, or the web.
The result of using Twitter to stay connected with friends, relatives, and coworkers is that you have a sense of what folks are up to but you are not expected to respond to any updates unless you want to. This means you can step in and out of the flow of information as it suits you and it never queues up with increasing demand of your attention.
Additionally, users are very much in control of whose updates they receive, when they receive them, and on what device. For example, Twitter provide settings for scheduling it to automatically turn off at dinnertime and users can switch off Twitter updates at any point.
Simply put, Twitter is what you make of it–receive a lot of information about your friends, or just a tiny bit. It’s up to you.
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