Twitter is a relatively new social networking and microblogging service.
Read the Wikipedia article on Twitter. There are several uses for Twitter:
- It is useful for posting short updates that are not the length of a regular blog, such as "Getting off the plane right now."
- It allows a user to post an update from his or her phone, not requiring a computer
- It can help a user make quick updates in, say, an emergency
- It can be integrated with Facebook, with Twitter updates being used as the "Status" update on Facebook; this allows Facebook friends to get more updates
- The Twitter updates can be fed to a website through RSS and HTML code inserts
Like other social networking tools, Twitter allows its uses to send out invites to their friends from their email address books to "follow" them (receive their Twitter updates) on Twitter. A Twitter user can follow others who use Twitter as well as see who is following them.
If you go to my
blog, on the top left hand side you can see my Twitter updates, and you can sign up to receive these updates.
Twitter has some great uses, though some post trivial things like what they are eating for dinner. It is another way to communicate and stay in touch with friends. If you are up-on technology, you are on Twitter.
Do you use Twitter? If so, what do you use it for and why? How might Twitter be helpful to outreach and ministry?