Twitter

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Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send "updates" (text-based posts, up to 140 characters long) via SMS, instant messaging, the Twitter website or an application such as Twitterrific. These updates are displayed on the user's profile page and also instantly delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. The sender can restrict delivery to members of his circle of friends, or allow delivery to everybody (which is the default). Users can receive updates via the Twitter website, instant messaging, SMS, RSS, or through an application. For SMS, currently two gateway numbers are available: one for the USA and a UK number for international use. While the twitter service itself is free, posting and receiving updates via SMS typically incurs a charge from the wireless carrier.

Twitter made its debut in March 2006. The Twitter team won the 2007 South by Southwest Web Award in the blog category.^[1] They gave the following playful acceptance speech: "We'd like to thank you in 140 characters or less. And we just did!"

With the growing number of new users, Twitter is experiencing numerous challenges related to its growth. The Wall Street Journal wrote "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 cellphone bills and the need to tell acquaintances to stop announcing what they're having for dinner."^[2]

Prominent Twitter users include U.S. Presidential candidate John Edwards, tech podcaster Leo Laporte, Microsoft blogger Robert Scoble, and Xbox blogger Larry Hryb.