Twitter, entre o online e o offline

O Twitter é um dos mais recentes buzz da Internet. Apesar de ainda não ter tido oportunidade para investigar as suas funcionalidades, é quase impossível não assistir à sua mediatização. Esta crónica do comentador da BBC Bill Thompson já foi publicada no mês passado mas, por considerá-la interessante e pertinente, dedico-lhe este post.

A crónica
How Twitter makes it real

Bill Thompson is impressed by the sense of being there offered by Twitter

Unlike many of my friends and colleagues I wasn't able to make it to Austin, Texas for this year's SXSW interactive, the four-day technology conference and festival that is currently firing the imagination of the technology world.
So I wasn't in the ballroom when the keynote address by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg went awry under the less-than-forensic questioning of technology journalist Sarah Lacy.
I didn't see the crowd start to get restless and heckle Zuckerberg about the deeply-unpopular Beacon advertising system, or get a chance to grab the microphone and ask questions when Lacy threw the conversation open to the floor.
And yet I was there in another way, listening to and even interacting with some of my friends in the audience, picking up on the vibe in the room and even tuning in later as Sarah Lacy loudly defended herself.
I was there because I was plugged into Twitter, the instant messaging service that lets users send short text messages to anyone who cares to tune in, online or on their mobile phone.
As I sat at my desk a constant stream of 'tweets', as they are called, was being supplied by many of the people in the room and I was able to reply directly and feel that I too was participating.
Of course following short messages on a screen is not the same as being physically there, just as watching a nature show on TV doesn't mean you can claim to have visited the Serengeti.
But the sense of presence that can be achieved is remarkable, especially when you're sitting at your computer working, connected to the internet and with a Twitter client running on your computer so that tweets appear as they are posted. It's rather like reading a novel, where you stop seeing the words on paper and find yourself immersed in a world created for you by the author.
After a certain point Twitter becomes part of the background to life.

in BBC News - Technology