Twitter Goes LIVE! And Why It’s a Big Deal

By BLOGBloke November 11th, 2009 | 29 Comments Buzz thisBuzz it Share this on Facebook

Twitter Goes LIVE! And Why It’s a Big Deal

The little app that could has finally grown up. No matter what you may think of Twitter theres no denying it is a phenomena. Twitter is on Letterman, celebrities are using it and even Microsoft got into a bidding war with Google over it. Everybody wants a piece of Twitter (except of course Miley Cyrus, but I digress…)

Twitters Law of Attraction:

People love Twitter because it is an extremely easy application to use that lends itself well to mobility. With its 140 character limitation nobody is expected to write a thesis on Twitter. It has attracted millions of users who just want a simple messaging service that they can take with their cell phone and keep in touch.

Of course its usefulness has grown far beyond but we shall save that for another post.

The Problem with Twitter:

Twitter wasnt without its detractors and BLOGBloke led the pack. When Twitter was first introduced as amicro-bloggingservice I was one of its most outspoken critics.

Only 140 characters! Are you kidding? How on earth can we say anything meaningful in just a few words .. (I bellowed).

Twitter Ups Its Game

Twitter has now raised the bar with its new featuretweet notifications. In fact I would argue it is more important than its Lists feature that so many (especially @Scoble) are excited about.

Why?  Well its simple really. We can now have truly live conversations thats why.

Twitter puts a notice at the top of your page with a message that you have an @reply waiting for you without having to refresh/reload the page.

How cool is that? Just click it and the message instantly appears. It even puts a number in Twitters browser tab (that is how I first noticed it) to let you know there are messages waiting.

It Gets Even Better

Neither is the 140 character limitation as much an issue now because we can actually follow the conversation and stay on topic. No more messages like:

Umwhat was that you said earlier? I dont follow…”

We dont have to fill in the blanks so the other party knows what the heck were talking about because theres no longer a time-lag between replies. (Thanks also to Twitters terrificin reply to ..feature).

Twitter as a Real-Time Conversation Tool

In fact I would argue that Twitter is more like a live conversation than a pontificating speech like blog posts can be. Instant social chat for the masses where anybody can jump into the conversation.

What makes this even more exciting for me is once and for all Twitter differentiates itself from real blogging. What I mean by that is time and again Twitter has been errantly described as amicro-bloggingservice.

With its latest incarnation Twitter has now become a full-blown, LIVE Conversation Tool! Twitter finally works like its supposed to and as I had envisioned it could be.

Although it still has some catching up to FriendFeeds ability to follow a conversation (which is more like real blogging comments) Twitter has finally come into its own.

Twitter meshes well as a companion add-on feature for blogs like I have in my sidebar. (I would still like more than 140 characters but since its built on SMS technology that is probably not going to happen).

Going LIVE with Twitter

Lately everything that we read about Web 2.0 is how it is going LIVE but I prefer to think of it as more of a convenience. The less clicks the better as far as Im concerned, and with Twitters tweet notifications feature we now get instant gratification. Theres no more need for 3rd party apps or checking our email later.

You have to admit that is way cool and for the first time Im actually getting excited about Twitter. So in honor of this momentous occasion I even upgraded my Twitter page. (What do you think)?

Twitters tweet notification should be available to everyone shortly and it is rolling out its retweet feature as I speak.

Way to go guys!

All in all Im pleased with the direction that Twitter is heading. How about you? Tweet, tweet

Filed under: Blog Tips, Featured Articles, Social Media, Twitter Tips , social networking, twitter

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    29 Comments so far to “Twitter Goes LIVE! And Why It’s a Big Deal”

    1. Calling all Blokesters! Please take a moment to read this post and Retweet. Thanks .. http://www.blogbloke.com/twitter-notific…
      via Twitoaster

      [ Reply..]

    2. Calling all Blokesters! Please take a moment to read this post and Retweet. Thanks .. http://www.blogbloke.com/twitter-notific…
      via Twitoaster

      [ Reply..]

    3. Bloke I never knew twitter had all that stuff you said. I recently got a win mobile phone so Pocket twittering is a breeze. And I was considering deleting my account earlier..! Thanks

      [ Reply..]

      @Curtis, glad you like it and didn’t delete your account. Tweet me sometime.

      [ Reply..]

      BLOGBloke (@blogbloketips) reply on November 12th, 2009 12:58 pm:

    4. Twitter has proven to be the great social networking portal as compared to Orkut and Facebook.

      [ Reply..]

      @poster, I personally don’t like Facebook but millions of users seem to disagree.

      [ Reply..]

      I joined Facebook simply because I was invited to by a friend. I haven’t used it for anything but contacting distant relatives. How effective have other readers found it to be as a tool for promoting a business?

      [ Reply..]

      David Lindsay (@blogbloketips) reply on January 13th, 2010 3:29 pm:

      BLOGBloke (@blogbloketips) reply on November 15th, 2009 3:25 am:

    5. Like you, I was sceptical about Twitter. And there are aspects of it and the culture that has grown up around it that I still don’t like. However, Notifications, Lists, and the changes to Retweets are a definite step in the right direction.

      [ Reply..]

      @Kenny, glad to see they’re spending all those $millions they got wisely.

      [ Reply..]

      BLOGBloke (@blogbloketips) reply on November 15th, 2009 2:06 pm:

    6. Like Twitter or not.. and I like it when it’s working,,, but it works for me.. twitter is my 2nd biggest traffic source.

      It works, if used right.

      [ Reply..]

      @John Paul, Google is by far my #1 traffic source, and Twitter and Yahoo are a distant second. Twitter is good for a traffic spike after a new post announcement, but search engines provide the regular traffic.

      [ Reply..]

      BLOGBloke (@blogbloketips) reply on November 16th, 2009 3:21 pm:

    7. Had no idea Twitter had this new feature. It sounds like TweetDeck but without the “deck”. Have you seen the new Twitter mobile? A handheld for tweeting only. It (Twitter) truly is a phenomena

      [ Reply..]

      Hi Roschelle .. expect the mobile phone companies to offer competitive pricing for similar services this Christmas.

      [ Reply..]

      BLOGBloke (@blogbloketips) reply on November 17th, 2009 3:36 am:

    8. Twitter has become incredibly popular with huge usage among folks.

      [ Reply..]

    9. Yeah, but using it just because everybody else is doing that already, isn’t a good argument. If people buy porn, you should do it too? Why?

      P.S. I’m a strong advocate of using Twitter to brand your business or whatever you’re doing to make a living [online/offline], but most people use it as a direct income generating tool, which is not what is supposed to be used for.

      [ Reply..]

    10. They’re all younger than me, so, yeah. They are. And I call people older than me “kid”. It’s not a big deal. They’ll live.

      [ Reply..]

    11. New Post: Twitter Goes LIVE! And Why it’s a Big Deal http://bit.ly/1NdgZK

    12. […] Twitter Goes LIVE! And Why It’s a Big Deal www.blogbloke.com/twitter-notifications-twitter-goes-live – view page – cached The little app that could has finally grown up. No matter what you may think of Twitter there’s no denying it is a phenomena. Twitter is on Letterman, […]

    13. @Scobleizer Twitter Goes LIVE! And Why It’s a Big Deal http://bit.ly/1NdgZK

    14. Calling all Blokesters! Please take a moment to read this post and Retweet. Thanks .. http://bit.ly/1NdgZK

    15. BLOGBloke: @Scobleizer Twitter Goes LIVE! And Why It’s a Big Deal http://bit.ly/1NdgZK http://url4.eu/jgUJ

    16. @Curtis, glad you like it and didn't delete your account. Tweet me sometime. http://bit.ly/2htJcS

    17. @poster, I personally don’t like Facebook but millions of users seem to disagree. http://bit.ly/2htJcS

    18. @Kenny, glad to see they're spending all those $millions they got wisely. http://bit.ly/2htJcS

    19. @Curtis, test http://bit.ly/2htJcS

    20. @John Paul, Google is by far my #1 traffic source, and Twitter and Yahoo are a distant second. Twitter is good for … http://bit.ly/2htJcS

    21. Had no idea Twitter had this new feature. It sounds like TweetDeck but without the "deck". Have you seen the new Tw… http://bit.ly/2htJcS

    22. Hi Roschelle .. expect the mobile phone companies to offer competitive prices for similar services this Ch… http://bit.ly/2htJcS

    23. "Twitter Goes LIVE! And Why It’s a Big Deal" ( http://bit.ly/4Z3Kb3 )

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