• by Seana Mulcahy , March 24, 2008

While at OMMA Hollywood last week, I met a new friend in the business. Turns out we went to the same college and graduated around the same time. As we got to talking, he asked me if I Twitter. Smirkingly, I admitted I haven't jumped on the bandwagon yet.

I guess it is somewhat of a shock -- especially to those who really know me.

I've been writing for years. I'm always scouring for stats, facts, figures, opinions, rants and raves. Sure we've got em here on the Spin. However, for those of us who write the Spin, we go elsewhere for fodder.

It sounds awful -- but do I need another way to connect with industry peeps? Why doesn't my host of hard-to-keep-up-with RSS feeds, blogs, podcasts, news alerts, the wire and plain old email newsletters satiate me? Besides isn't it something to stay away from, since I've already got a full-blown addiction to communications devices?

I'm afraid not. I have to bite the bullet. Heard about Twitter but don't really get it? Or get it and don't really know how to explain it? The best source I found was the Commoncraft guys' video: http://www.commoncraft.com/Twitter.

ZDNet defines it as "a website and service that lets users send short text messages from their cellphones to a group of friends. Launched in 2006, Twitter (www.twitter.com) was designed for people to broadcast their current activities and thoughts. Twitter expanded 'mobile blogging' (updating a blog from a cellphone) into 'microblogging,' the updating of an activities blog (microblog) that distributes the text to a list of names. Messages can also be sent and received via instant messaging, the Twitter Web site or a third-party Twitter application."

Before I head into Twitter I worry if I'll be able to keep up. I'm already time-starved. I have a high threshold for information consummation before it becomes overload. However, I am already writing articles, blogs, lesson plans for school, press releases, product descriptions, RFP responses, strategy documents, copy et al for work.

So my friends and peers say it's not too late to jump right in --although it has become very popular. I was relived to find all you could post is 140 characters. That's not much of a requirement. For those of you who don't live in a word count world like me, these Spins are typically 650 characters, plus or minus.

I guess that can be a bit limiting, too. I would need to change the way I write to be so character-limited.

Still, there are several things that appeal to me as I make this decision to convert -- or augment -- or append my musings:

It's free.

It can easily be networked into my social media sites.

Many of my friends and colleagues are already on it.

You can make your posts or "tweets" private, so people outside your network can't see them. I especially like this feature, as I don't want a whole host of people getting in my head.

I can hook up my mobile and synch up my IM.

I don't have to be connected to the site. I can follow along on my IM via my phone. The messages I read there will still be on the site when I log on. That's great for me, 'cause I'm the queen of reading messages on my handheld and having them disappear as I am on the go -- eek!

I can see what my friends are following on the service.

It can be put into sleep or wake mode, or be shut off altogether.

So I guess this laggard will make the change. Wish me luck -- and if you've already done the Twitterbug, come and dance with me.