Site Review – Twitter

I think that everyone knows about Twitter by now. At first blush, one wouldn’t think that you could cram much information into just 140 characters… and one would probably be right. The signal to noise ratio on Twitter is exceptionally low.

However, despite it’s obvious flaws, people persist in using the site. Some use it keep in contact with friends. Some use it to communicate with business associates. Others just tie third-party systems into twitter and use it as a variant of an RSS feed.

However you use it, though, you should be aware of the security ramifications of the system. At it’s core, Twitter has two modes of operation. Everything you post is either fully public or protected (sorta private). So, the first question you have to ask yourself is whether you trust Twitter’s protection mechanism to keep your private data private. If you do, and you intend to broadcast private information, go ahead and use the protected mode. If, however, you wish to use the system for business, keeping it set to public makes the most sense. After all, you can’t promote a brand if you can’t be seen.

So, assuming that you are using Twitter publicly, you have to assume that anyone and everyone will be able to see your tweets. Thus, you should be careful with what you post. Keep in mind that, as with everything you put on the Internet, it will be there forever. Since you will change (like, both as a person and with regards to your company and career affiliation), your best bet is to just stay honest and polite. It’s pretty much inevitable that you will wind up looking stupid at some point, but you should probably be careful not to say anything that could come back to directly harm you.

So, the basic rules are the same as with most Internet sites.

• Be aware that everything you do is public.
• Try not to anything too unredemingly stupid.

Then you’re just left with the challenge of saying something useful in just 140 characters.