Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service, which lets you update your status using tweets (short messages saying what you are doing), and find out what friends, colleagues and even celebrities are doing. It has been called the logical evolution of blogging.

Once on Twitter you can update your feed, and receive updates of those you are following in a number of different ways. The most obvious of these is to login to your Twitter account online, but you can also update your feed quickly using your mobile phone, and receive Tweets by SMS text message, RSS TwitterMobile, Tweetie, Twinkle, Twitterrific, Facebook, and Twidget, a widget application. I think that this is one of the main reasons behind Twitter’s success, especially as users are able to interact using mobile phones.

Twitter was launched in 2006, created by Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone and Evan Williams. And in recent months, it’s been  talked about more and more due to celebrity attention  from people like Steven Fry, Barack Obama, Jonathan Ross and Richard Branson to name just a few. Twitter has also been the place to find out breaking news, like a plane crash in Denver which was first announced on the social blogging site.

Some people have criticised the use of Twitter, saying they can’t understand why people would use it in a world already suffering from information overload. It is true, there’s no real reason to use Twitter, but this is the same for a lot of social networking sites. They are there for us to communicate without the boundaries of time and distance. They’re useful and addictive, and Twitter especially is a great tool for those on the go, who are able to keep their social network up to date with what they are doing from anywhere in the world.

So how can Twitter be used? It can be used as I have said just to keep in touch with people you know, and even those you don’t. Yet the best use of Twitter I’ve seen is when a Twitter is incorporated into a site, acting as a live feed of information. This also gives the viewers more reasons to return visit the site.

The Twitter concept is being further developed. TwitPic allows users to post images to their micro-blog and tag them to a geographical location. Other great applications I’ve found are Remember the Milk (A reminder application, which you can update and view from anywhere, great for iPhone users) and there are plenty more little Twitter apps being developed all the time.

As it is at the minute, Twitter is never going to compete with other social network giants like Facebook and Myspace, but I believe it is a great idea. It seems to me a similar concept to SMS text messaging – it’s obviously on a different platform, but look how much we use that. It may end up being just a trendy way to communicate. But depending on how it’s developed, it could be something that is used daily to keep in touch with your social community. So why not create a Twitter account and get Tweeting.