I am finally posting again after returning from vacation and getting caught up with everything. Whew…I’m back in the saddle again. Recently attended Podcamp 2008 at Ryerson where I sat in on two sessions. The first was a session about Talk Shoe a service that enables anyone to easily create, join, or listen to live interactive discussion, conversations, podcasts and audioblogs. How very “get smart.” Love eavesdropping…but I was really there for the next session, Twitter 101, moderated by Adele McAlear with a panel of “twitterers” Eden Spodek, Tommy Vallier, Dave Fleet and Connie Crosby.

Micro-blogging is something that has always intrigued me and I needed to learn more about this social media tool. Communications and public relations are all about conveying messages clearly and succinctly. What better way than to learn all about micro-blogging and what it can do for the profession. However, still a little confused about the messages that are being conveyed – Do I really care if someone updates me with a message that they are eating a cheese sandwich or out walking the dog?

  

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send updates or “tweets,” to the Twitter website via short message service, instant messaging, or a third-party application such as Twitterific. These posts can not exceed 140 characters in length and 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 a circle of friends who in essence are followers to that person’s profile (delivery to everyone is the default). Users can receive updates via the Twitter website, instant messaging, SMS, RSS, e-mail or through an application.

Since Twitter’s launch in October 2006, the service has rapidly gained in popularity and many organizations, like the Los Angeles Fire Department have embraced the technology and put it to use in situations such as the October 2007 California wildfires.

Amongst the many social interactive media services used to track down the fires were two Twitter news streams. Dave Fleet wrote an interesting blog about the wildfires and the use of new media to communicate this crisis in the State of California. Dave indicates that immediacy is one of the positive aspects about web 2.0. and new media. Crisis communications must focus on mainstream media such as print, radio and television, but new media tactics have proven a quicker and more responsive way to communicate directly with people than traditional media channels.

OK…Twitter has been gaining in popularity and is touted for its immediacy, but what about outside the realm of crisis communication? or outside the area of corporate communications, public relations and marketing? How does twittering affect the personal user?

Rayanne Langdon, a classmate in the Corporate Communications and Public Relations graduate program at Centennial readily admits her addiction to Twitter as she posted this following tweet:

Classmate today asked me how often I’m on Twitter. My answer? Gosh, all the time. I have a problem. 09:52 PM March 10, 2008 from web

I signed up and became a Twitter user after attending PodCamp, but I can honestly say that I am not obsessive about it. I check in from time to time and send the occasional tweet, but I am still trying to wrap my head around the concept. For example, for some inexplicable reason, I have a follower from Mexico City and all of his tweets are in Spanish. After interviewing Dave Fleet for an upcoming podcast, we discussed Twitter and its viability, and have come to the conclusion that there is a learning curve to truly understand that it’s more than an instant messaging tool. Twitter, if used properly, can be an excellent marketing, public relations and communications tool.

Social Media Club calls Twitter an EM,  or  otherwise, an “everywhere messaging” tool with the potential to change the way organizations use marketing and publishing.

With Twitter…the purpose is not about communicating with another person instantly. While I could send a direct message to someone over an EM channel, it is probably not something that has a time imperative on it… Most importantly, with EM, I believe the message is more about me, my needs and my desire to be heard – it can also be more self serving along the same lines that social bookmarking is – to help me find something later. EM can just as easily be a tool for publishing as it is a tool for communicating with those I trust, or those that want to know what I am doing or thinking. As a tool for publishing, it can also be a tool for annotating and sharing.
Chris Heuser – Social Media Club

Even though micro-blogging has been embraced and promoted by many communications practioners, in 2007, Twitter began experiencing numerous challenges related to its growing user base.  The Wall Street Journal wrote the following:

These social-networking services elicit mixed feelings in the technology-savvy people who have been their early adopters. Fans say they are a good way to keep in touch with busy friends. But some users are starting to feel “too” connected, as they grapple with check-in messages at odd hours, higher cell phone bills and the need to tell acquaintances to stop announcing what they’re having for dinner.

A great posting entitled “Twitter Rant” on the blog Webwalker summarizes the mixed feelings about the use of Twitter. Twitter is enigmatic and a paradox to many. Let’s just say that it is a love-hate relationship and considered a necessary evil in their everyday lives.  As for me, I will persevere and try to learn to love Twitter, because the bottom-line is, in this ever-changing world of technological advances, Twitter is a platform that is both immediate and intimate.  And a newer and better way of delivering key messages effectively and efficiently. 

Please share your thoughts about Twitter?  And if you are a twitterer, define in one word why you love it or hate it?