Tweet Tweet, Twiddle Twiddle

..."there's only one candy with the hole in the middle."

Remember those old Lifesavers commercials from the 80s? That silly jingle is stuck in my head now. I hope it doesn't get stuck in yours.

Anyway, this post isn't about candy. It's about Twitter. If you haven't been paying attention, Twitter is the most explosive social networking tool on the internet. It's barely been around a year, and already there are over six million users worldwide.

At its heart, Twitter is a tool that lets you answer, in 140 characters or less, the question "what are you doing right now?" It's similar to the Facebook status bar, with two exceptions: 1) you only have 140 characters, so you have to be very succint and to the point 2) you can choose to 'follow' anyone's Twitter feed, without their permission (unlike Facebook, where you have to give permission for someone to be your 'friend').

What does this mean?

For one, it means you can waste even more time on the internet, reading about what people ate for breakfast and how many kilometres they cycled that morning. On the other hand, however, Twitter is also an amazing tool for sharing useful information fast and connecting people. By faciliating quick connections that aren't permission-based (you just choose interesting people to follow on the internet - as many as you want), users can quickly grow their network from just a few followers (and followed) to a few hundred or few thousand.

Witness Twestival. This is a worldwide festival on February 12 in over 100 cities around the world. The festival was not only a way to bring together Twitter users in a physical space, but also had a goal of raising money for a global water charity. The festival was organized entirely by volunteer Twitter users, and although the numbers aren't in yet, organizers expected to pull in over $1,000,000 for the charity. The amazing thing is how easy Twitter allows you to connect with large numbers of people all over the world.

Like Facebook or MySpace, it's all about how you use it. You can use it for wasting time reading extremely banal information about people, or you can use it as an incredible tool for engagement with the world. I'll be using it to promote a Canada-wide walk/bike festival our non-profit organization Bikes Without Borders is putting on for HIV/AIDS workers in Africa . Already, I've had Twitter users nationwide messaging me asking how they can help promote the event.

I'd love to hear your thoughts about Twitter? Boring? Beautiful? Bold? How do you use it? Or refuse it?

Mike
http://www.twitter.com/mtbikermike