So you might have noticed the Twitter bar on the left side of our blog. You also may have gotten a Twitter invite in your email from me recently (hee hee hee). You also might be asking yourself “What IS Twitter?”

What is it exactly?

From the Twitter FAQ:

“Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co-workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?”

Here’s an even better explanation:

Really, how many times do you begin a conversation with a friend by asking that same question? Sometimes you want to know what your friends are up to, but don’t have time for a phone conversation, visit in person, or to read their blog. I think this type of micro-blogging fills a gap in connectivity between social networks (i.e. friends, family).

A little too much information?

Sure, you may or may not want to know everything about your friends that are watching NASCAR, but just to have the option of doing so is a great (love ya wyndi!) Plus, it’s a great way to not only stay in contact with friends, but to learn more about them in a non-linear way.

Communication is changing

Texting has changed the way we communicate with each other. Twitter sends/receives updates via IM and web, but the power of the service is shown by using SMS (texting). As phones get more powerful they will quickly supplant the PC as computing platform as well as communication.

When I was at my former job I was in a conference room waiting for a meeting to start. I took that time to send a text message to Amanda. When he saw that I was texting, a co-worker snidely remarked “You know there’s this great technology called a phone. You pick it up and call the other person and you can talk to them. What’s the point of this ‘texting’ business?” I then tried - unsuccessfully - to explain the benefits of texting to this member of the Old Goat’s Club (seriously, there’s a ‘club’ for people that have been working there for over 25 years). “Texting is non-linear, you can communicate even when you don’t have time for a formal call, like email, only more accessible since it’s on your phone” I said. What happened next solidified my stance that texting is the future of communication. I got the following text: “Happy Valentines Day! Love Mom”

Give Twitter a try and you’ll find that it’s strangely addicting. And feel free to ‘follow’ us:

http://twitter.com/danielespinoza/

http://twitter.com/amandaespinoza/