Twitter and Microblogs

Twitter is a popular service used to send short messages. It started around SMS text messaging on phones, so Twitter messages are restricted to no more than 140 characters. Twitter is part of an evolving class of services called microblogs, although most other microblogs have given up on the SMS text messaging constraints and allow features beyond the simple text message.

Twitter gained popularity, not only for its ease of use on cellphones, but by allowing a lot of third-party tool and app development around its service. Twitter purchased some of these tools, and others remain popular alternative choices to Twitter’s core offering.

Why would you use Twitter? The short messages are great for pointing out items of interest, ...

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