Hidden Dangers of Twitter

It seems that everyone is talking about Twitter, and while the service is seeing enormous growth and all the celebrity bloggers have started using it like their life depends on it, before you jump on the bandwagon, here are a few considerations to keep in mind.

The any major difference between Twitter and regular instant messaging conversations or text messages (sms: short messaging service)? The only difference I see between the two is that Twitter makes your private conversation with another person - a conversation that is in all likeliness irrelevant to anyone else reading it - available for everyone to view.

Hidden Costs

So before you start Twitting away, keep in mind that every time you do a status update, or publish something new but equally irrelevant on your Twitter feed, if you do it from your cell phone your carrier will charge you for every text message you send. And unless you have a plan that includes text messages, Twitting can be an expensive hobby, as Jason learned the hard way.

TMI: Too Much Information

It is a generally recommended practice for bloggers to disclose some information about themselves. Some personal disclosure allows your audience to have a closer connection with you when reading your content. There is of course the problem of disclosing too much information, or all the wrong kind of information about you.

The same problem that arose from the popularity of social networking sites will come up with Twitter. As the masses get addicted to twitter, people will start texting all sorts of things to the service, only to later realize that they shared some information that they shouldn't have. While you Twitter, just keep in mind that you are broadcasting whatever you're doing to the whole world (or at least your friends and colleagues). Please don't tell us about what diseases, which you got them from and who you've been doing what with.

Twitter does have its uses too. People familiar with Sturgeon's Law know that '90 percent of everything is crud. The law applies to Twitter more than anyone have witnessed it being applicable to anything else. If you manage to be selective, and prepare out the irrelevant information, you can definitely learn a thing or two form what people are saying. While the ordinary can be interesting/humorous and may be important to true friends, the breaking news is where the power of Twitter lies". This latter fact is exemplified by the list of top 100 Twitter users, over 21% of which is comprised of BBC, CNN, Google News, and other news outlets.