A few weeks ago, Jay Leno took Twitter to the Senior Citizens Home. They tried to explain to the senior citizens what Twitter is. In the last few weeks I’ve had to explain Twitter to a variety of people; some have understood it, some look at me dumbfounded.
I’ve used everything from “it’s a way to connect with people, to it’s a micro blog, to it’s a whole new form of communication”. For those who don’t get it, I get told to pick up a phone. I have to laugh because my main form of communication with friends is with a phone, but through text messaging. With texting you’re limited to 160 characters per text. Twitter took it one step further and dropped it down to 140 characters.
In all of my ways of trying to explain twitter to friends, family, and others, I have never found the best way to explain it without having to go into lots of detail. Saying it’s a micro blog, sometimes gets into “what is a blog”, saying it’s a form of communication leads into “who are you communicating with”.
I was trying to think of an easy way to explain Twitter to those who just don’t get it without having to go into detail, and still make it worth their time.
In exactly 140 characters, here’s how I would describe it:
A form of interaction with friends, family, etc. used to keep them up to date with inner workings of your daily life, business, or interests
How would you explain Twitter in 140 characters or less? Leave a comment and let me know.