Twitter

I first made a Twitter account this past January, I have only ever 'tweeted' on five separate occasions and have only ever been mentioned once. I have twelve 'followers' and I only 'follow' twenty-five people, a mix of friends and random celebrities. I will be quite honest with you, I have little to no interest in my Twitter account. Reading about what my friends or celebrities are doing every five-minutes really does not interest me.
Although I may not be that interested in Twitter, I must admit there are some beneficial qualities that it provides. First and foremost, it is an extremely useful marketing tactic, business' are able to 'tweet' about new products, features and sales for millions of their followers to see. One of the most frequent quotes you will hear from different company's is 'follow us on twitter'. Another obvious yet important use is that it allows millions of people to connect and spread messages for free.  It is also a great way for user's to find out, in real-time, what is going on in the world. Whether it be a controversial call in the NFL, or a statement made by our Prime Minister Steven Harper. Another great aspect is that the local traffic users are able to see current trends on the 'now trending' feature of Twitter.
Twitter is quite similar to blogging, and is often referred to as 'micro-blogging' because of the limited character supply you are given. With blogging you can write until your blue in the face, with Twitter you are given a 140 character limit. From a personal standpoint I see blogging as something that takes more time and overall effort, where as 'tweeting' is something that is done within a number of seconds with minimal effort. Blogs are generally written about a specific topic, and the writer usually feels very strong about the specific topic and delves quite deep. Whereas twitter is more or less one's quick thoughts or opinions on a wide range of different topics.