My favorite social networking site - and the only one I use - is Twitter. Twitter is not only great for personal use, but it is a great outlet for journalists and business owners who want to market themselves and their work.
Twitter allows anyone to make updates in 140 characters or less. By restricting the number of characters allowed in a tweet, users must focus their ideas and only write what is most important. Also, this restricts people from telling their life story to anyone on the Internet. And unlike Facebook and Myspace, of which I use neither, Twitter makes it much more difficult for users to disclose excess information about themselves through pictures, profiles, message boards, etc.
If users want to post pictures or would like to show their personal sites, they can of course give the link in a tweet - which will then direct readers to the other site. Twitter is a great way to advertise a business site, a blog site or to share information online, and is also great for networking with other businesses or people who share similar interests.
Twitter has also allowed journalists to break news faster. As stated in the reading, "News happens on Twitter before it happens on news sites." Just think about the balloon boy story, or when Michael Jackson died, or the recent tragedy in Haiti. A great majority of people first heard about these stories via Twitter. Twitter has also become a lifeline for victims of the devastating earthquake. People trapped in rubble have tweeted using their mobile devises, and rescue workers were able to find their location.
When I first started on Twitter, it took me a while to get used to all the tools and "lingo" of the Twitter world. But now that I understand it, I'm such a tweet-geek!
