Are you into Twitter? Do you tweet?
Twitter, by the way, is self-billed as a “social messaging utility.” I prefer an alternate description as a “micro-blogging service.”
Frankly, it’s been a challenge for me to keep these blog posts under my self-imposed limit of 300 words (this one stands at 278), so I can’t fathom being succinct enough to stay under Twitters 140-character limit (which is less than this sentence).
Regardless, many people are tweeting away. According to Audience Development magazine, who was reporting on Nielsen findings, the growth rate on Twitter from February 2008 to February 2009 was an amazing 1,382% That is an astronomically huge jump.
To check Twitter out I signed up for a couple of feeds. First, is President Obama. He (or at least someone purporting to be him) doesn’t tweet to often.
The last one was asking me to tangibly show my support for his healthcare reform plan. I agree with his three principles (reduce costs, guaranteed choice, and ensure accessibility) but see them as being mutually exclusive, so I declined to sign his petition.
The other feed that I subscribe to is Erwin McManus, who recently embarked on a trip to Europe (he’s back now). It was interesting to journey with him, albeit in 140-character increments, but I would often forget to check the feed.
I suppose if I received them as text messages on my cell phone it would be more convenient, but I block text messages on my cell phone because I don’t want to be interrupted with text messages on my cell phone.
I have better things too do.
Besides, I still need to carve out time to set up my Facebook account.
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Peter Lyle DeHaan is an author, blogger, and publisher with over 30 years of writing and publishing experience. Check out his book Successful Author FAQs for insider tips and insights.