Hung Truong: The Blog!

Seriously, What Is The Deal With Twitter!?

May 06, 2007 | 1 Minute Read

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So I’ve been reading about this thing called Twitter on some web 2.0 sites and whatnot. Call me pessimistic but it sounds like a completely useless idea. Now, before I had heard about twitter, I had used this thing called “status updates” on Facebook. I guess they’re pretty similar.

On Twitter and Facebook, you can write updates on what you’re doing, either from your phone or your computer. I think the difference is that Twitter sends updates to your friends on what you’re doing by SMS or whatever. Facebook just sorta posts your status on the site.

Now, I actually use the Facebook updates now and then, but it seems like people who use Twitter do this to the max. Like they update multiple times a day. Are these people so self-centered that they think everyone needs to know what they’re doing?

I think the difference between this functionality in Facebook and in Twitter is this: In Facebook, it’s just that. A functionality. In Twitter, the ability to update is the entire application itself. To me, Twitter is simply a subset of what Facebook already provides. Why would you ever need both?

The only thing I can see that Twitter does better is leaving out the required “is” that facebook stick in the updates. So I can write “Hung Truong likes cheese” rather than “Hung Truong is liking cheese.” Screw gerunds!

Regardless, Twitter seems to be insanely popular. At least with web 2.0 blogs. For now I’ll stick to updating with Facebook, like every few days or so…