Twitxr is an example of a site competing with Twitter, while TwitPic attempts to deliver pictures within Twitter. One interesting byproduct of this is that Twitter users frequently encounter links to TwitPic while using Twitter, which may help boost the growth of that service.
A Work In Progress
I've noticed small refinements to the Twitter.com interface over the last few months, a feat that seems incredible given the simplicity of the concept. Biz Stone says that what I've observed are "updates towards a better user experience," and suggests that there is "plenty more room for improvement in that area."
For the most part, the folks at Twitter seem content to watch how people use the service and use that a springboard for adding new features. The form of directed messaging known as "@replies" came into being that way, for example. Users self-organized around using @username to address each other, and it eventually became a formal part of Twitter, which automatically directs @replies to the appropriate users stream of tweets.
Another feature that seems to be growing in popularity that is not yet adopted by Twitter officially is #hashtags, which enable tweets on a given theme to be aggregated.
Difficult to Explain, but Easy to Understand
Twitter is about the life that happens between blog posts and emails, say Lee and Sachi LeFever at CommonCraft, and they created Twitter In Plain English (aka "Twitter in 150 Seconds") to explain.
Others have a slightly different take on Twitter, with Pete Cashmore of Mashable suggesting that Twitter was the 2007 paradigm for cat-blogging.
Meryl Evans suggests that "Twitter doesn’t work if you lurk, post updates, and do nothing else." She also offers seven tips to a good Twitter experience.
I didn't think I had room in my life for yet another web service, and indeed my first effort to use Twitter foundered. Then I began to use it as a "mini-blog," a place to record the notes too short or personal for a full-length article. I made an effort to "follow" friends and acquaintances from around the web and plunged right in. I quickly found that what seemed trivial or pointless from the outside became an indispensable part of my online life.
Article comments
1 - Phillip Winn
The editor who published this article is now paying more attention to Twitter -- I've succeeded! :-)
2 - Eric Berlin
The success of twitter as you've said is due to its simplicity, the open API, and perhaps most importantly, early market share grab amongst tech and media online adopter types. Pownce and Jaiku might offer some different/better features, but why switch if people you know are on twitter and you've already invested time building up a friend/follow list there?
3 - Matthew T. Sussman
So when's the launch of Twittercritics.org?
4 - Phillip Winn
EB (#2), there's no question in my mind that Twitter came along at just the right time. It will be especially difficult for competing services to succeed, because of the social networking aspects you mention. Why should I sign up with X if everyone's on Twitter?
I already have Facebook and Twitter, though I'm barely using Facebook anymore. Another site? Forget it!
5 - Phillip Winn
Suss (#3) there's a somewhat clumsy BC bot on twitter right now: BC Magazine. I'll improve the bot at some point.
In the meantime, BC Magazine is people, so sign up and join the peeps! :-)
6 - Matthew T. Sussman
Yeah, I think I'm just going to skip this iteration of the Internet until we get to Web 10.0, when Synapsr comes out, letting me seamlessly publish my stream of consciousness to the World Wide Web without having to translate it into keystrokes and words.
7 - Bennett
Thanks for this Phillip, it looks good. In the apps section of twitter there's a desktop console named "Spaz" which I've downloaded and am enjoying its functionality. Plus, I like the name, and if you visit their site you get to see the "dictionary picture" for a spaz...
8 - RJ Elliott
Good article, PW. Now I know what all that "twittering" on Facebook is about. ;)
9 - Phillip Winn
Eric, our esteemed founder and publisher, is now tweeting. Mwua ha ha!