Microblogging - to tweet or not to tweet...

The sound around twitter, the most well-known "microblogging" service has become distinctly buzzy in the last few weeks, possibly because on television in January.

Goldsmiths is now twittering too!

But what is twitter? In their own words, "twitter is a free social messaging utility for staying connected in real-time." The service allows you to post news alerts of no more than 140 characters to anyone who cares (= "follows" you).

The main reason to twitter is to stay in touch: let your friends, family and work colleagues know what you are about, and where you are at. Equally, get directed to interesting websites and pass them on. Without Stephen Fry I would not have known about this fabulous "newsflash" nor about this excellent little gizmo from the Open University.

Twitter is being used for charity fundraising, for corporate PR, journalism, to raise awareness ...

... and academics are thinking up ways to incorporate twitter into teaching and their research. An unknown follower directed the following query to me: "I believe that Heidegger has some views on education and learning. Can you point me to the correct sources? Thanks." Since I could, i did. And the next time I want someone to direct me to a source, I will be sure to put out a tweet.

Is twitter for everyone? Probably not. Is it for you? Perhaps. Why not find out? Below are some useful resources that might help you make up your mind.

"How twitter changed my life" : a slide presentation on slideshare.net;
Stephen Fry is a real twitter champion;
Rory Sutherland aka the wikiman in the Spectator;
calmly reflective blog post on twitter by e-Learning manager Steven Warburton;
Some twitterhacks and Lifehacker on twitter;
Finally, if you want you can follow my own banal tweets here.