How to Explain Twitter to others

As a regular user of Twitter, I am often asked to explain two things.  The first, is "what" is Twitter.  The second, "why" do you use Twitter.  Ehow users have done a good job explaining the second issue (why), but I wanted to put my own two cents in an effort to explain "what" Twitter is.  If you are a current user of Twitter, you probably don't need this information, but if you are not a Twitter user, a new Twitter user, or are just curious about Twitter, hopefully, this information can help you explain Twitter to your parents and friends

1) Twitter is the future of communication:  This is the most common explanation you read in the press.  Usually the explanation starts with something like Twitter is better than sliced bread and then continues with how it will solve world hunger.  Needless to say, most explanations create more confusion than Twitter itself...so I am not sure how good an answer they are.

That being said, I do believe that Twitter will play a *part* in the future of communication, collaboration, and messaging (instant messaging, email, etc.).  At its heart, Twitter does two things very well.  # 1...it accelerates communication: Because it is based on the fastest medium available, Twitter does a great job sharing immediate information with your "followers."  Sure, you could do email, etc. too...but IM is still the fastest way to communicate.  # 2...Twitter allows you to share (and redirect) information with a large population easily and quickly.  Not only is this sharing done with your followers, but by using the Hash (#) model in the Trending Topics and Search sections, you can literally share information with the entire base.

Here is another good explanation at Biznik. http://bit.ly/XCxPy  And by @Statsgirl. http://twurl.nl/fx0wdo

2) Twitter is a Food Court: This is actually one that I like to use. Basically, the theory is that everyone you are following and everyone of your followers have some common interest(s).  Like in a food court (common interest = hungry?), a Twitter user walks around and "finds" things of interest.  Those things of interest are then processed (e.g. bought) and those that are not, are ignored.  When you are "hungry" the next time, you go back to Twitter and see what is available. Admittedly, you have to stretch the metaphor a bit, but hopefully you get the basic idea.

3) Twitter is a Cocktail Party.  This is another example I like. Basically, like in a Cocktail Party, everyone is talking at the same time.  Like in party, you get the opportunity to listen to interesting conversations, meet new people, share information, etc. Everything...except no drinks, I guess. :) Anyway, replace conversation with tweets and you've got it.  For a better explanation, check out this link off of TwiTip. http://twurl.nl/muqtim

4) Twitter is the Pulse of the Day: The most fascinating thing about Twitter is how easily top trends / topics can bubble to the surface...almost completely on their own.  As mentioned above, the Search, Trending Topics, and # model allow for any topic of mutual interest to be shared globally almost instantly.  Sure, you can get a sense of key topics via CNN or MSNBC, but Twitter is one of the best to let you find a topic of global interest so simply.

5) Twitter solves business problems: No one is quite sure how Twitter itself is going to make money, but there is no doubt certain businesses are doing it already.  Two of the best are Dell and Comcast. Dell (@Dell) has made Twitter a key vehicle to highlight deals and drive traffic to their website. Comcast (@Comcastcares) uses Twitter to find and solve customer issues.  There is no doubt that Twitter can help solve customer problems and / or make money...though every business has to find their own approach. Of course, there are also plenty of "get rich quick" ideas...but I basically ignore those.

6) Twitter is a cool way to do Closed-user-Group (CUG) texting:  It is a pretty simple way to use Twitter, but there are a lot of groups that use Twitter as a simple way to have geographically unlimited Instant Messaging platforms.  While there are other choices available in the market (e.g. AIM, Google), Twitter is a great tool to give *everyone* a mechanism to do group IMs with few limits in time, place, or interest.

Hopefully, this help you with explaning Twitter.  Let me know if you have any other examples or ideas for this continually-changing medium.