Do you Twitter?

The first time I signed up for a Twitter account, I used it for a few days, didn't quite see the point, and abandoned it soon afterward.

Some months after that, I was attending a technology conference in Nashville and got a better look at Twitter's usefulness as a communications platform. I signed up for a new account and I've been using it ever since.

Twitter is a web-based communications service that allows participants to post 140-character messages, sometimes called "tweets," which can be viewed by others. The original idea was that each tweet would answer the question "What are you doing?", as in "[Username] is going out for a quick lunch." That's what I thought Twitter was all about the first time I used it, and that's part of why I wasn't interested.

But Twitter has moved past that original mundane purpose and become a way for people to share quick bursts of information -- a link to a web page, a reaction to some speech or news story, or perhaps new information about something that's just taken place. The Times-Gazette has its own Twitter account, with the user name Times_Gazette, and uses it to send out links to stories as well as other information.

How does it work?

You sign up for Twitter at its web site, twitter.com. You can then begin posting your own updates, called tweets, either at the web site, through your mobile phone, or through Twitter "client" software (more about that later).

Who sees your tweets? It depends. People can sign up to "follow" your updates on Twitter, in which case your tweets will appear the list of recent Twitter updates whenever your follower checks the web site.

People can also search for Twitter updates by keyword. For example, if you want to know what other Twitter members think about Christian Bale's temper tantrum, you might go to the "search" feature on Twitter's web site and search for "Bale." That would give you a list of recent Tweets which included the word "Bale."

If you don't want the general public to be able to find your tweets in this fashion, you can "protect" your updates, in which case only people you approve can follow them, and they won't show up in public search results.

You, of course, can sign up to follow other people's updates. Some social networking sites require this to be a two-way street, but Twitter doesn't. I can follow you without you following me, or vice versa. A celebrity who has a Twitter account may have many thousands of followers, but may follow few if any people.

When you're following Twitter from your computer, you generally see updates from all of the people you follow. But it could get annoying -- and expensive, depending on your rate plan -- if you got a separate cell phone text message for each and every tweet. So Twitter allows you to pick and choose which, if any, of the people you follow will have their messages sent to your cell phone. There's no charge for using the Twitter service, but your cell phone provider may charge for text messages.

Person-to-person

Your tweets are generally considered to be directed to the world in general. But there are two ways to direct your messages to someone specific. The first is what's called a "reply" (even if it's not actually replying to a message). You can include someone else's username, preceded by the @ symbol, in your message: "@Times_Gazette, you really need to do a news story about Twitter." A reply is still a public message, viewable by everyone.

There's also a "direct message" feature at the web site that allows you to send a message to a particular user which is only viewable by that user.

What is it for?

Different people use Twitter in different ways. Some people still answer that original Twitter question -- "What are you doing?" -- and for them, Twitter becomes a sort of miniature blog. You can also use Twitter as a way of quickly pointing your friends to a web page that you think is funny or relevant or important. Because of the strict 140-character limit on your tweets, it's sometimes helpful to use a service like snipurl.com or tinyurl.com to turn a long web address into a short one, so that you'll have room to explain what it is you're linking.

Some people have even broken news stories on Twitter, by publishing tweets about something they've seen or heard about. Many news organizations are beginning to use Twitter in search of news tips.

Twitter can be fun during a major event like the Super Bowl or the Oscars as you and your friends post your immediate reactions to a great play, a funny advertisement, or a revealing gown.

In some cases, Twitter participants agree on "hash tags" to make is easy to search for tweets about a particular topic or event. For example, if you were tweeting about the Oscars, you might include the word "#oscars" at the end of each of your tweets. People who are interested in following Oscar tweets can search for that hash tag and get a current list of all the latest Oscar-related tweets.

Other ways to play

Twitter updates are somewhat similar, in length and intent, to the status updates on the social networking site Facebook. In fact, some people set up the two services so that anything posted to one is also posted to the other. That way, your friends on either service can keep up with you.

In addition, many people use third-party computer programs to keep up with Twitter as an alternative to the Twitter home page. Some of these programs place the list of updates in a box on your desktop (not unlike instant messaging software) or in a sidebar of your browser. Although these are designed and built by third parties, Twitter has a helpful list of them at twitter.com/downloads.

Twitter clients often make it easier for you to follow your replies or direct messages; the regular Twitter web site doesn't do very much to call them to your attention. They may also make it easier for you to switch back and forth between accounts, in case (like me) you have a personal Twitter account and a separate business-related account to worry about.

Twitter can be a fun and useful service, although it does take a little time to get used to. Give it a chance, and see if you agree.