Tweet Tweet

So I was browsing some of the past copies of IR and in the Summer 2004 issue there was a non-fiction peice that made references of someone's desire to make all emails a maximum length of 20 words. It's now 2009 and everyone has heard of or is addicted to Twitter.com. I've heard it called microblogging, and"like facebook, but only the statuses" and"like sending a text message to everyone all at once" and "the communication method we never knew we needed."

Whatever Twitter is, it seems to be taking over. Just last week someone asked if IR had a Twitter account. We don't as of yet, but who knows what the future holds. And in the meantime I find myself wondering about the effects of Twitter: Is tweeting an opportunity for haiku? What does it mean to know what that someone "out on their backporch reading poetry" or "boarding plane headed for Costa Rica" or any other array of intimate details we now have readily available? What are your thoughts on Twitter? The exercise in brevity? The networks it creates? What does it mean that I have blogged much more than 120 characters about Twitter?

Speaking of limited word counts: today is the DEADLINE for our $1000 Prize for 1/2 K (500 word) short short/prose poem. Check out the guidelines here.

--Alessandra