Twitter: The Future of the Web

It's the new craze catching the internet by storm: micro-blogging. And where better to do it than Twitter.com? Twitter has led the way in the micro-blogging revolution, with this site, being founded in 2006, hitting fever pitch this year. Twitter, which allows users to post tiny updates of up to 140 characters, is now the third most popular social network in the world after Facebook and Myspace.

The site's tagline is 'What are you doing?' and that sums up its mission quite clearly. Twitter users input very short, very catchy updates to their Twitter feed, which others can read in mere seconds. Unlike a long, well-considered blog post, this is a real-time update, capturing the essence of Web 2.0. What's more, it's not just a website. The Twitter API allows programmers to take Twitter updates and put them on their own page, or even send them to mobile phones via SMS. And, true to expectation, you can update Twitter, known as Tweeting, by sending a text message from your own telephone to a gateway number. Combine with this email feeds and daily updates and it's clear to see why Twitter is well and truly changing the way that people communicate online.

A lot of people want to know, though: how to make money off Twitter. The most basic way to make money on Twitter is to develop a following, and then manually sell updates as advertising space. Another way is to use Twitter to retain brand loyalty with another site of yours. But whether it's for business or for pleasure, Twitter and the micro-blogging revolution aren't going anywhere anytime soon. Not everyone is pleased about this. Some people feel that relying on ultra-short messages is damaging public discourse and moving us more towards a 'soundbite' mode of communication, while others think that the rise of news source Tweets are distracting them from their role of discovering and providing news and analysis.

But with most top media outlets now using Twitter in addition to their regular duties, these fears seem to be unfounded. Twitter isn't going to replace longer communication: it's just going to complement it. After all, as New Scientist reported in May 2008, ultra-quick communication via Twitter and map websites, as well as traditional blogs, are absolutely invaluable in reporting breaking news and emergencies, such as the Virginia Tech shooting. Indeed, it may not be too long until the emergency services themselves start using SMS and Twitter to coordinate themselves. Add to that the sheer entertainment value, and the question is: why aren't you Tweeting yet?