Friends with Benefits

Beyond the Twitterdome

Is Twitter a broadcast channel, a new form of instant messaging, or just another online time waster? We're not quite sure, but we can see its influence in recent changes made to sites like Facebook and Google. Twitter is yet another example of the Web becoming more real-time, more about right now. This trend coincides with the increasing number of people using the Web through mobile devices. These days our cell phones are more like computers that allow us to make phone calls. How long will Twitter remain on top? We give it another few years. Eventually—just like all the tools in this book—some other service will emerge as the Next Big Thing. Foursquare, for example, is a location-based social network that geeks and other ...