What is Twitter?

My colleagues and friends tend to ask me a lot of tech questions, but probably the one question I get asked more than any other is "what is Twitter?".  It also probably the hardest question to answer because you either "get" Twitter and use and love it, or you don't don't.  This was particularly evident at the BTUB (Brisbane Twitter Underground Brigade) meet-up on Friday night where a bunch of Brisbane-based Twitter users descended on The Ship Inn at South Bank and our friendly waitress asked us where we were all from.  One smart ass replied "we're from the internet" and then proceeded to try and explain without much success what Twitter is.  She just looked at us with a mix of bewilderment and pity.

So, how would I describe Twitter?  I usually describe it as a micro-blogging tool where you post short updates - 140 characters or less - describing what you are doing.  When that explanation gets greeted with confused looks, I say it is part blog, part sms and part instant messaging.  At that point I usually give up.

If you're still curious about what Twitter is, here are some other attempts to describe what it is.

From Twitter's own FAQ's:

What is Twitter?

Twitter is for staying in touch and keeping up with friends no matter where you are or what you’re doing. For some friends you might want instant mobile updates—for others, you can just check the web. Invite your friends to Twitter and decide how connected you want you to be.

From Wikipedia:

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users' updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length.

Updates are displayed on the user's profile page and delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. The sender can restrict delivery to those in his or her circle of friends (delivery to everyone being the default). Users can receive updates via the Twitter website, instant messaging, SMS, RSS, email or through an application such as Twitterrific or Facebook. For SMS, four gateway numbers are currently available: short codes for the United States, Canada, and India, as well as a United Kingdom number for international use. Several third parties offer posting and receiving updates via email.

As of July 2008, over 2,200,000 accounts were registered.

And here is a YouTube video explaining Twitter in Plan English:

If you have a great way to explain what Twitter is, please comment below and let me know!

Comments

[Kathryn Greenhill]

Mob of librarians had a go back in December and ended up with this slideset of quotes and pictures.

Twitter is like... http://librariansmatter.com/blog/2007/12/13/twitter-is-like/