Is 140 characters (or less) enough for you to express yourself on Twitter?
By thebassdude
@thebassdude (342)
Philippines
October 20, 2010 6:51am CST
When Twitter came out I really didn't get the whole concept. Why limit yourself to 140 characters? The whole "micro-blogging" idea was totally foreign to me so I wasn't able to immediately appreciate Twitter.
But after using it for a while, I realized the importance of keeping your updates short and to the point. And now, I actually don't have a problem expressing myself in 140 words --- sometimes even less. :) In fact, it's actually fun trying to express yourself in just a few words... it challenges you to try and become witty and concise at the same time.
Now I'm beginning to really appreciate the simple functionality of Twitter... It's social networking minus the clutter. Something a person like myself who is always on the go, could really appreciate.
How about you guys? What do you think about Twitter? And do you enjoy expressing yourself in 140 characters or less? :)
5 responses
@joey_matthews (8354)
•
20 Oct 10
I don't like Twitter, I just don't see the point in the site and although I have an account for one of my sites I find it frustrating having to limit what I say. It seems most people have to break their twits down and post multiple entries, it's just a site I think has a huge craze.
Facebook should try and integrate their status system to have a similar effect that twitter does. I personally think this would be better :)
@joey_matthews (8354)
•
20 Oct 10
I wasn't aware that Twitter was designed for those reason in mind, it now makes perfect sense.
Kudos TBD :)
@thebassdude (342)
• Philippines
20 Oct 10
hahahaha... yeah, I sometimes do that... break up my tweets.
I also didn't get the logic of twitter until a major catastrophe hit our country. A strong typhoon swept across our city, leaving most places flooded and virtually destroyed. Twitter played a vital role in disseminating information instantly. We were actually one step ahead because our government and news agencies were tweeting in real time... so we got updates almost instantly.
That's probably the biggest advantage of twitter over most social networking sites... You can send updates on your mobile phone as long as you have wifi or 3g connection (that's actually the reason for the 140 character limit). It's so basic that even a simple phone with just a wap browser could access it.
But for full on social networking... I still think right now Facebook is king. :) You're definitely right... If Facebook integrated some of the functionalities of Twitter, it could easily be the one-stop solution for networking. I believe they've started that already by allowing cross posting between Twitter and Facebook. :)
1 person likes this
@toniganzon (72281)
• Philippines
21 Oct 10
It's actually a bit challenging to express myself in 140 characters only, but sometimes I needed to voice out my opinion more and it feels not enough to be limited to 140 characters. But there's an alternative, the tweet longer and other stuff which allow us to tweet more than what the twitter allows. If twitter would not put such a limit to the characters then i think it won't be called twitter anymore.
@thebassdude (342)
• Philippines
21 Oct 10
Indeed! ...and it would defeat the purpose of Twitter since those one mobile phones (the older models of course) which are still limited by 140 characters wont be able to send their tweets. :)
@rafaelnadal007 (731)
• India
20 Oct 10
i think it depends upon peoples. say some can express many things in just few lines and rest cannot. they need to elaborately explain to express. twitter is mainly to express yourself and share with others so i think it is more or less okay for 140 characters. as many can just leave few lines as they are always busy with their other days routines and schedules.
@puccagirl (7294)
• Israel
20 Oct 10
I think it is okay, but it would be better if you had a few more characters I think. But since so many people really like it, I guess they must be doing something right!
@thebassdude (342)
• Philippines
20 Oct 10
Some people actually use Twitlonger for instances when tweets need to exceed 140 characters. :)
@hippiemomdiaries (815)
• Philippines
20 Oct 10
I, personally do not have a twitter account at the moment...but I'm in the verge of setting up one soon. True, I still could not imagine expressing myself in 140 characters. Yet, I'm about to be drawn in to it now because it's reaching out to people who want mobility or are always on the go. But twitter already came up with a new feature for those who want to write lengthy messages --- twitlonger. Yup they have this now, try it and tell me what you think.
@thebassdude (342)
• Philippines
20 Oct 10
Yup... most twitter apps for the iphone have twitlonger integration... that way you could tweet beyond 140 characters. :) I've found no use for it now 'coz I'm kind of getting used to tweeting within the limit. But it's good to know that there's an alternative... so If you have something to say that needs more than 140 characters, you could still tweet it. :) One thing i like about twitter is it gets updated in real time. So for situations like typhoons, or anything really important, you get updates instantly. :)
