The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools, and Strategies for Business Success, Second Edition

Chapter 28. Microblogging

Microblogging is no more than text messaging on steroids. With the demise of Pownce, we're talking for the most part about Twitter for open text communication and Yammer for internal, or behind the firewall, communication. The reason for Twitter's success was best put by Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), when he said in the late nineteenth century, "I apologize for the length of my correspondence. Given more time it would have been shorter."

We love the 140-character bite-sized messages because we can read and comprehend them in about five seconds. In that short amount of time we can fully understand what the author is trying to convey. With text messaging, you don't have the opportunity to drone on and on as we do in our e-mail correspondence. With Twitter, we read it, comprehend it, and move on.

This chapter provides you with a source of the different companies in the microblogging space. New ones are coming online and some old friends such as Pownce are going away. Let me know if there is a service you would like to be included in the next edition.

This chapter introduces you to three companies in this category:

• Plurk

• Twitter

• Twitxr

As you read each profile, keep in mind that its features and functions may or may not be right for your particular business. Use the Tool Scorecard at the end of the chapter to help you determine which of these tools qualify for further consideration when you begin creating your social media strategy in Part III of the book.

Plurk

Company ...