Soren Gordhamer of Mashable has posted thoughts on How Twitter is dethroning the “old guard” of common Internet tools–namely, social networking sites like MySpace, web search (Google), and e-mail. Whether or not you agree that Twitter will become a de facto communication system, you might pull the following takeaways from Soren’s argument:
- Twitter is the first “everywhere social network”–you can use it on your computer or your mobile and stay up to date wherever and whenever you’d like.
- Twitter searches yield realtime results–not what Google’s search engine found yesterday. Twitter searches can also quickly and easily solicit opinions from the masses–like Soren’s example of querying about web hosting, I’ve used Twitter to get recommendations for mechanics, home repair, and places to eat when out of town.
- Twitter gives you an outlet to share information you wouldn’t otherwise share via e-mail. Setting up an e-mail distribution list of all your friends, just to tell them “I’m going to San Antonio next week!” might be a little off-putting, but sharing this little personal news bite on Twitter is almost expected.
My takeaway: This is all a reminder that a post on Twitter really is more than just a 140-characters-or-less “what are you doing?” message, and that the service is well on its way of sitting side-by-side social networks, search engines, and e-mail (if not “dethroning” them).
What do you think? If you’re using Twitter, have you tried any of these functions? Or if not, what do you find off-putting about it? You can share your thoughts in the comments section below.
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Tags: email, Google, social networking, Twitter
