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E-Media Tidbits

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Mac Slocum
A group weblog by the sharpest minds in online media
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Twitter: Killer App, or Hype?
Posted by Mac Slocum 8:34 AM
Drive
fox.com/drive
Fox recently "Twittered" the broadcast premiere of its new series, "Drive."
It didn't take long for Twitter's live blogging capabilities to catch on. Poynter's Pat Walters used a Twitter page to post micro updates from the National Writers Workshop in Hartford, Conn.

Meanwhile, on the less newsy side of the spectrum, the executive producer of Fox's new show "Drive" "Twittered" the show's premiere. (When did Twitter get verb status?)

Live blogging is typically an uncomfortable process, especially if you're crammed into a crowded keynote or sending updates from a less-than-ideal location. Twitter eases some of the pain through its simple Web interface and text/instant messaging options.

In addition to conference and speech coverage, other Twitter applications could include on-scene updates integrated into breaking news packages and game casts.

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My colleague Jon Satriale, journalism technology manager at Emerson College, also points to the newsgathering utility of Twitter mashups like Twittervision.com. "A savvy journalist might watch Twittervision during a crisis for leads or eyewitnesses," Satriale says.

Third-party technology like Twitter tends to make revenue-minded folks a little uncomfortable -- especially if you're sending people away from your site. However, Twitter addresses those fears through its embedding tool, its application programming interface (API), and through applications developed by the Twitter user community.

Tidbits contributor Tish Grier noted: "Rather than Twitter being equal to 'live blogging,' isn't it more like an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) backchannel chat without all the slowness and security? Twitter getting verb status is really jumping the gun a bit. Total hype. Perhaps Twitter is more along the lines of old LiveJournal, back in 1998, when all the college girls would run home to post their every thought on LiveJournal."

To which Slocum replied: "Yeah, the verb thing is a bit much. I also think 'tweet' (a single twitter post) is pretty weird.The difference between Twitter and LiveJournal (and every other mini-post tool) is its incorporation of multiple technologies and systems."

...For a thoughtful look at, and discussion about Twitter, see Liz Lawley's March 3 Many to Many post -- and don't miss the comments.

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