OK, I suppose my dear you should first understand what a blog is.
Think in terms of a journal or diary. People who write blogs are openly sharing information concerning their life, their business, their hobbies or passions or just simply whatever they enjoy writing about.
Therefore my Blog post today will be to explain to you (and others like you who have not yet joined the online social networking clubs) the importance of this new and fast growing form of marketing and communication. Afterward, I hope you will better understand and want to join in. NOW DEF: Micro-blogging is a form of multimedia blogging that allows users to send brief text updates (say, 140 characters or fewer) or micromedia such as photos or audio clips and publish them, either to be viewed by anyone or by a restricted group which can be chosen by the user. These messages can be submitted by a variety of means, including text messaging, instant messaging, email, digital audio or the web.
The content of a micro-blog differs from a traditional blog in that it is typically more topical, smaller in aggregate file size (e.g. text, audio or video) but is the same in that people utilize it for both business and individual reasons. Many micro-blogs provide this short commentary on a person-to-person level, or share news about a company's products and services.
I know it's easy to laugh at all the nonsense on Twitter.
The key question today isn't what's dumb on Twitter, but instead how a service with bite-size messages topping out at 140 characters can be smart, useful, maybe even necessary. Here's why I'm looking and here's why I now have multiple Twitter accounts. In the last few months, the traffic on Twitter has exploded, growing far beyond its circles of bleeding-edge tech enthusiasts and hard-core social networkers.
Businesses such as H&R Block and Zappos are now using Twitter to respond to customer queries. Market researchers look to it to scope out minute-by-minute trends. Media groups are focusing on Twitterers as first-to-the-scene reporters. (They were on top of the May 12 China earthquake within minutes.) Loads of new applications and services are growing around the Twitter platform, leading some to suggest that the microblogging service could become a powerhouse in social media.
Bit of History Concerning The Different Service Providers
In May 2007, 111 Twitter-like sites were counted internationally. However, the most notable service is Twitter, which was launched in July 2006 and won the Web Award in the blog category at the 2007 South by Southwest Conference in Austin, Texas.
The main competitors to Twitter have been Plurk and Jaiku.
Other leading social networking websites; Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and Xing also have their own micro-blogging feature, better known as status updates.
With the growth of micro-blogging, many users want to maintain presence in more than one of these social networks. Services such as Socialthing and Profilactic will aggregate micro-blogs from multiple social networks into a single list. Services such as "Ping.fm" will send out your micro-blog to multiple social networks.
Is it all clear as mud now?
If you still need more information to to better understand the importance of Twitter in today's business world, I suggest you check out this 12 page slide show provided by Business Week at: http://images.businessweek.com/ss/08/05/0515_twitter/index_01.htm
I think we should open you a Twitter account and just let you "tweet" around till you get it. (NewAccount)
Now can you understand why your dinner may be a bit later on twitter nights?
Why I don't get out as much as I use to?
Why I get so excited when someone I believe is great, ... "Follows" me?
It's all good, they're not a stalker my dear. :)
Signed: ....Your loving wife
