I guess I need to know this. How does twitter work?

[Bucky]

Do you just text message off your phone and it turns up on a website? Or can people see what you twittered on their phones, like a text message broadcast? And if that's the case, how much time do people have to dedicate to reading every little thought that crosses the minds of whosever twitter feeds they've signed up for? Is it any texting, or does it need to be off a Blackberry?

Shit, it seems like you wouldn't have time to talk anymore. Why would someone sign up for Newt Gingrich's twitterings?

[Lasher]

1. Three hours and nothing.

Guess nobody knows. I don't.

[Bucky]

2. Nine hours and nothing. It's truly a mystery.

Sherlock Holmes probably couldn't figure out twitter. I mean, shit, it's not like I'm asking about the software.... I just wanna know how people read it.

[rcrush]

3. I think it could be useful

Like if a riot broke out somewhere and the media didnt want to cover it. But most people use it to talk about their farts.

[NJmaverick]

4. Twitter is sort of a means to provide group text messaging

you are limited to messages of 140 characters in length. Both the person doing the twittering and those following the twitter need to be signed up, if they want to do it all via cell phone. However when you twitter they also show up on a website so people can follow them via the internet. In fact you can also post twitters via the intenet through the twitter website. You can subscribe to who you want to follow, via your twitter account.

[Lasher]

5. Hmm, essentially broadcast text messaging.

If there's some other difference I've missed it.

[NJmaverick]

6. In a nut shell that's it

other than it can also be web based for those that don't want to deal with texting.

[Lasher]

8. There is some similarity there too.

Email messages can be sent to, and text messages received from, cell phones. I use Outlook for email but it can be web based.

Thanks for the scoop, I think I understand now.

[NJmaverick]

9. Glad I could help

you might want to check the post below this one, as he goes into much greater detail

[targetpractice]

7. It is much more than that...

It's a communication platform enabling an ambient awareness among followers... You can use Twitter.com, one of many desktop clients, one of many mobile phone clients, in addition to SMS.

All "tweets" are saved by Twitter and everything is massively searchable. If you choose to follow me, you could read every tweet I've ever sent. You can search for current topic such as "AT&T outage NYC" to see if you are the only one with cell phone problems.

Some twitterers are personal, some are business or news related. It really is up to you about how to use it... What do you want to know from others and what do you want to share with others?

In addition to my friends, I follow @richard_dawkins (for daily recommended readings), @BNOnews (for breaking news), @breakingflunews for H1N1 updates, @mindykaling (hilarious writer from The Office), @shitmydadsays (random sayings from some guys nutty father), and of course @maddow (Rachel Maddow).

Group texting is totally a "push" concept... The sender decides who gets a message and when... Twitter allows users to search for and follow other users at any time.

Again... I think the best term I've heard to describe it... "Ambient Awareness"