People refer to Twitter as a mini or micro blogging platform. My opinion is this Twitter is for constructive objectives. Its usefulness is not readily as obvious to some people as Facebook; although it may be more addictive once you get the hang of Tweeting & Re-tweeting; you get more immediate responses and it seems to live somewhere between the worlds of email, instant messaging and blogging. So it  encourages constant “linking out” to anywhere and, in that respect, is more analogous to a pure search engine; another way to find people and content all over the Net.

When asked by someone to me why I have Twitter account, I replied like “I can ask a question and get an instantaneous response”. For example once I asked through my status “which certification is best for undergraduate person like me?” A Pakistan’s MVP replied quickly after few minutes.

For Media and advertising sector Twitter has quickly built brand awareness and a loyal following, especially among the technically adept; bloggers, online marketers, evangelists, basically anyone with something to promote seem to find Twitter extremely valuable.

Twitter also gives you real time search. It’s tough to believe, but Twitter Search has only been around for a year. When you want to see how people are reacting to Arsenal stunning winning against Man United you turn to Twitter. So, Millions of people know and use Twitter search regularly.

Perhaps Twitter’s biggest advantage over Facebook search is that almost every Twitter user has a public account, meaning that his or her tweets are indexable. This provides for a great deal of information while searching. Plus you don’t need to get permission to follow someone.

I concluded the following pros and cons of Twitter with the help of other blogs on internet. They are mention below briefly.

Twitter Pros

  • Easy to navigate and update, link to and promote anything
  • Reach far beyond your inner circle of friends
  • Friends list can be made according to group. These may either public or private.
  • One feed pools all users; anyone can follow anyone else unless blocked
  • Pure communication tool, rapid responsiveness
  • You don’t have to be logged in to get updates; you can just use an RSS reader
  • Very interactive, extensible messaging platform with open APIs
  • People get involve in tweeting through trending topics
  • Many other applications being developed (Twitterific, Summize, Twhirl, etc.)
  • Potential SMS text messaging revenue from wireless networks (although Twitter states they are not currently getting any cut)
  • Real time search is available.
  • Potential future advertising and/or enterprise subscription-based revenue streams
  • With its “thin” overhead, Twitter is probably more scalable than Facebook, giving it a cost advantage

Twitter Cons

  • Limited functionality; find people, send brief messages, direct replies, favorite tweets
  • Limited to 140 characters per update
  • Not all people find it immediately useful
  • Over-emphasis on follower counts
  • Easily abused for spam and increasing the noise level
  • Relatively smaller installed user base
  • As yet no readily apparent monetization strategy