Micro Blogging.

Or How I Learned to Tell Others About Myself in 140 Characters or Less...

Mike Shields

It started for me on LinkedIN® , a relatively harmless question on your homepage which reads: What are you working on? And it turns out that other social media networks like Myspace® and Facebook® to name two, have something similar. The Grandaddy of all of these seems to be Twitter®.

It works like other social networks should, you have friends, and you can follow them, and they can follow you, and you get 140 characters to update your status, or tell others what you're doing, or communicate with your followers, etc. And that's ALL IT DOES.

Why 140 characters?

I don't know. It's not a power of two, and the two it's closest to, well, 128 obviously wouldn't be enough, and 256 would be too many. As with anything online, I didn't have the definitive answer to this pressing question, so, I went looking for it. I found out several interesting things, including that a twoosh is apparently a tweet of exactly 140 characters. And since there is this evidently arbitrary limit, we must embrace it, as those who've twooshed in the past, already have.

And this is where the fun begins. Apparently, the Twitterverse, or Twitterville, as it's referred to by those that tweet, has grown three times as fast as nearest rival Facebook over the same time period. This means that you probably know someone that tweets. However, if the site is called Twitter®, shouldn't it be called a twit? 

A toaster toasts, a bomber bombs, therefore, one who twitters twits. I twit, you twit, he she or it, twits. I always thought a twit was a nimrod, but now apparently, it's also a verb. And of course, The Law being what it is, apps have sprung up by the hundreds, in order to twit, er,  tweet. I know, Halloween is over.

There's Tweetdeck®, Twitterrific®, TwitterPost®, Twitteroo®, just to name a few. And this doesn't include API's for Firefox®, of which, I'm using Twitterfox® right now, with some success, although, it doesn't have the full features of Twitterrific®, which I may switch back to. Or to which I may switch back, if you're allergic to prepositions at the ends of sentences. 

There's even a couple of websites of note, of which I've used HelloTxt.com, and Ping.fm. These allow you to update your status, or Microblog if you prefer, to several sites that you may be a member of, all at the same time.

And of course, some have found that the artificial limit discussed above it too arbitrary, so, The Law once again kicked into place, and BigTweet®, and Twitzer® have joined the fray. These allow you to break the 140 characters limit. Which I think would be improper twitiquette. Yes, it's a word, check the Urban Dictionary if you don't believe me. 

Other instances of improper twitiquette include, but aren't limited to, more than 5 posts a day, not following people that follow you, and generally ignoring other's tweets. Or, perish the thought, not tweeting at all. Of course, I don't know who made these rules of twitiquette, Miss Manners, maybe? Shouldn't she be married by now?

In any case, as of this writing I have achieved Twitter Zen, as the number of people I follow, is the same as those following me. Not necessarily the same people, mind you, but it gives me a good Twitter Grade. 

That's right, your Twittering is graded.

And there will be a test.

Please study.

Disclaimer: Mike twits, or tweets as: http://twitter.com/MatchesMalone

Next week, we might discuss, who enforces, The Law!!!  But, no guarantees....

Full Disclaimer: Mike is either a poker player, or a filmmaker, depending on when or where you ask him. If you wish to connect with him in any way - he is LinkedIN as an "All Around Neat Guy" and his blog can be found at: Who Is the WatchMaker      

 When he's not Twittering - Mike is promoting his next film 168 Project

The Law of Unintended Consequences ^TM is a Trademark of Mike Shields. 

December 12, 2008  by Network Abundance Publications

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