Twitter, keeping it real
Bill Thomson who writes for the Technology section on the BBC News website is impressed by the sense of “being there” offered by Twitter.
“Most of my friends seem to twitter from the web or a client called Twitterific. I prefer Twhirl, which works nicely on my Mac, but thanks to the open API there’s a lot of choice.
When I’m out I can even get Twitter on my iPod Touch thanks to Hahlo, which offers a particularly clean and usable interface.
And when I want to follow a particular topic, like SXSW, I use the Tweet Scan website, which searches public updates.
You can choose to keep your tweets private, of course, though there is something about telling the world just what you’re up to in 140 characters or less that becomes strangely compelling after a while.
Like many fast-growing services Twitter is far from perfect. The site sometimes creaks and falls over under the load, the interface can be confusing and sometime tweets don’t get through.
It is also a dangerous distraction from work, encouraging micro-conversations and followups and witty rejoinders when articles have to be edited, code checked and projects planned. ”
Bill Thompson is an independent journalist and regular commentator on the BBC World Service programme Digital Planet.
Source and full story: BBC News [How Twitter makes it real]
March 27th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
I have to say that I think I find it a dangerous distraction from not only work, but my life too. One of the last things I tend to do before I switch the light out at bed time is log onto Twitter via Widsets on my SE k800i.
When I’m on my shiny new MacBook Pro, I have Twitterific running in the background to keep me up to date with all the people I’m following.
I just wish that my mobile phone (Three) provider didn’t charge me for using my text messages, as I’d find it more user friendly, though that’s probably not a bad thing.