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Twitter receives a lot of buzz

In the techno-world, it’s hard to go a day without hearing Twitter mentioned in some way — how revolutionary it is, a company’s twitter name, and so forth.

I’m taking a college class about Web 2.0, and recently a guest speaker spoke about Twitter, which spawned a large discussion about the site. We came to agree on four points:

It hasn’t caught on with the younger generation.

Most college students still stick mainly to Facebook. Those who do use Twitter use it in addition to Facebook or as a separate means of networking. Twitter is not a big thing with students, and few really mention it. A lot of the media overestimates its appeal to the younger generation, and instead adults are more caught up with tweeting.

Signing up for Twitter is simple.

Twitter may have caught on with adults more is because of the simplicity of it. It’s quick to sign up for, the concept is simple, and the interface works well. Most other social networking sites are pretty involved when you get started — you have to add details, find friends, upload pictures, and so forth.

Twitter offers a way to follow important people.

Unlike Facebook and MySpace where befriending anybody famous is likely to lead to rejection, Twitter allows you to follow these people easily. You can follow Shaq, you can follow a Harvard professor.

Twitter is most widely-adopted in the tech world.

Although all sorts of people have Twitter, the demographic where Twitter has hit hardest is in the tech world. Companies and bloggers create a Twitter to have an online presence that extends beyond their website.

What do you think about Twitter?

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