The Blog

Hey!  Remember the “old Twitter?”  I mean the really old Twitter.  If you don’t know or don’t remember, one of the key features during its inception phase was the integration of text or SMS messages into the format.  You could “follow” your friends via the website, and get status updates sent right to your mobile phone.  You could also send updates to your friends or ‘followers’ via text message as well.

In fact, that’s the reason that Twitter messages can only be 140 characters long – because of the SMS feature.  Text messages can be 160 characters long, so Twitter users get 140 for the message, and the other 20 are reserved for including your Twitter handle.  (which also explains the limit on Twitter usernames)

This feature is still going strong on Twitter today.  Even with the proliferation of third party applications like HootSuite, TweetDeck and a whole host of others – both on your computer and on your phone.  Really — all you have to do is link up your cell phone to Twitter and start Tweeting.  It doesn’t even have to be a smart phone.  In fact, there really weren’t any smartphones when Twitter was launched in 2006.  The iPhone didn’t arrive until almost a year later in 2007!

But I follow dozens or hundreds or thousands of people…!….why would I want to get that many text messages??  Well, you don’t have to.  You can chose which users messages get sent to your phone!  Maybe you follow a store or restaurant and just want to know what the soup du jour is.  Or get a special discount.  Or, like me, you could have followed @Team CoCo when they were launching the new Conan O’Brien show and gotten a free t-shirt.  (you’re jealous, I know)

Anyhoos — I recommend checking out the Wikipedia article on Twitter:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter

And here’s the instructions on linking your cell phone to Twitter: http://support.twitter.com/groups/34-mobile/topics/123-getting-started/articles/14589-how-to-add-your-phone-via-sms

Happy Tweeting!