5 Myths About Twitter

Some call it an online social networking site, microblogging or maybe even public text messaging -- it can't be pinned down because there's really nothing else like it. Twitter is a free way for friends and strangers to send and receive short messages (140 characters max) via the Twitter Web site, on a mobile device or with instant messaging. Users are called "twitterers" and the messages they send are called "tweets."

5: Twitter Is Only Status Updates:

Of course Twitter is status updates. The very thing it asks of you when you use it is, "What are you doing?" Naturally, most people just answer that question.

Twitter, however, is what you make it. It is status updates

4: Only Celebrities Have a Lot of Followers:

Yes, celebrities have a lot of followers. But isn't that true outside of Twitter as well? As of publication, Ashton Kutcher has 2,286,717 followers on Twitter. That's more than CNN Breaking News (1,866,804 followers) and Twitter (1,485,347 followers).

When you sign up for Twitter, anyone can read your tweets and choose to follow you (or not). If it's a lot of followers you're looking for, you'll need to work for it.

3: There Is a Right Way and a Wrong Way to Use Twitter:

A right way or a wrong way to use Twitter seems like saying there's a right or wrong way to have a conversation. There are social rules, yes, but no one can tell you how you should or shouldn't use a product, and with millions of tweets per day, people are bound to use Twitter any way that works for them.

Take for example following and followers. It's not rude if you don't read every tweet your followers send. The more followers you have (hundreds, thousands) the more difficult this becomes. It's also not rude if you don't follow everyone who chooses to follow you. Maybe you do, maybe you don't -- it depends if you find someone's twitter feed interesting or not.

2: Twitter Doesn't Make any Money:

Well, yes, this is actually true, though it's not such a bad thing. How and when will it actually earn any money? Twitter's venture capitalists aren't worried about it yet. To hear the co-founders and investors tell it, Twitter's emphasis right now is on building an audience and the revenue streams will come second to that -- an "if you build it they will come" (or "pay" in this case) sort of scenario.

1: It's Only Mundane Details:

Sure, sometimes you might want to let everyone know about how you're standing in line to get coffee, but Twitter has become what Time calls a "medium of the movement," growing as an important communication tool and way to quickly network people and information. Twitter has a few things in its favor to make it so. It's free and it's available on more than one mobile platform, including the Internet, instant messaging and SMS. This combination has sparked users to go beyond the coffee talk.