A Look Inside Twitter, and the Addiction Many Have Come to Know

Tracy Sheridan is a prolific blogger and CEO of interactive podcasting service Waxxi. She will be contributing to the Daily Galaxy as a resident expert in Web 2.0, fascinating web apps, and the Internet in general.

Admittedly, in the very first days of Twitter’s release, I was one who snubbed the seemingly ridiculous service. Update my friends with what I am doing two to five times a day? Better yet, read about and get pinged with what my friends/colleagues/acquaintances are doing two to five times a day, or more? Not for me, thank you very much (and I'm what you'd call the early-adopter, power-user of everything Internet and web-related).

That was until one day, when I was chatting with a fellow blogger who is an active Twitterer. She convinced me, “you don't need to update more than once or twice a day – often less -- and it's limited to 140 characters per post, so it's really no bother. To show you how far behind you are, I finally got my sister on Twitter just this weekend.” Okay. You got me. This was the moment I caved into Twitterdom.

Initially, I expected to be uncomfortable about posting things like, 'going for a run in 95 degree heat' or 'just back from a workout, now time for some fine dining'. Yet, it's exactly what I did. But, I did more than that: I began micro-blogging. Posting links to interesting sites (like the Daily Galaxy), and expressing important thoughts, on the fly.

A-list bloggers, tire-kicking geeks, and people who just want to keep up with their family and friends: these are all people using Twitter updates on a regular basis. And the number of users continues to rise.

Some brands are actually using Twitter in a brilliant way, by not marketing themselves. They’re informing, entertaining, or simply keeping people ‘connected.’ One of the best examples of this happens to be one of the most popular Twitters: CNN Breaking News. Why? Because they don’t sell. They inform, without even linking to other shows, or their web site.

Ready to delve in? Consider yourself warned: it’s quite easy to get started, and dangerously addictive once you do. Twitter is a free service, if you’re updating on the web, or the mobile web. However, sending and receiving Tweets (Twitter messages) by SMS will cost you, depending upon your mobile carrier.

The phenomenon of Twitter lies within the 'addiction' to this platform, this format, and this way of micro-communication and discovery.

Is this the future of the way we will communicate, blog, and learn? Stay tuned for the Galaxy’s next chapter: Twitter: Fad, Trend, or Something Else?