In some previous posts I was critical about Twitter and I'll admit I should not have been so without actually trying it out for myself. I had thought I would not have had control over the messages that stream in, but I do. I can select who I follow and block those that I do not want following me. Also, individuals are not the only ones Twittering. You can subscribe or follow the likes of CNN, Google News, NPR and MacWorld.
What's Twitter you might ask? "Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?" Quick messages are short messages of 140 characteristics or less.
I do not need to access Twitter with my web browser. There are numerous Twitter clients that push or display messages on your computer desktop. At first I was turned off of the popular Twitterific, because it cost $14.95. I checked some of the free clients for the Mac, such as Twitterpod and a Dashboard widget called Twitterlex. They worked, but lacked some features, such as, an easy way to reply to messages, so I took a look at Twitterrific and determined that it is the better Twiiter client. The interface is really slick and you can use it for free if you do not mind the occasional ad displayed in the Twitter feed.
You can view the tweets of those I follow in the sidebar. If you use Twitter, I invite you to follow me.
Check out more Twitter related applications at the Twitter Fan Wiki.