Can someone please explain to me how Twitter works?

[Joe]

Is it like a social networking Facebook sort of site? I made an account, but I don't understand it, nor do I know what to do.

[BILL]

Twitter is a social communication site but it is quite different than facebook. To tweet is to produce a short message that you then place out on the site in a new conversation or in response to someone elses tweet. Think of twitter as a mass text message website. You have to keep the number of words below 250(i think) and you just send off random messages to people on the internet.

[Macadameane]

Twitter utilizes microblogging.

A blog is information that an individual puts out so that other users can read. A microblog is similar, but only a tiny amount of text is allowed. This creates your own update or news feed.

If you are familiar with Facebook, you can post status updates. This is what Twitter does. You post a status update that anyone can read (normally).

Instead of having friends on Twitter, you may "Follow" people. This means that you are following their status updates.

In a sense Twitter is akin to texting on a cellphone or instant messaging. Small messages are sent out one by one.

Twitter does have other features. The statuses can all be searched. Users can post tags in their status updates. An example of this could be "I'm ready to go to #bed." This tags "bed" for the post. When people search for bed, this status will definitely be queued up. Another feature is directing a status towards another user. Suppose someone just updated their status and you want to reply: "@soandso That made me rofl!" This message will be directed to a specific user and can be considered a reply.

I hope this helps!