twitter | Social Signal

Rob and I have been together for 12 years this month, but I still remember what it's like to get over a previous love. Back in the day when there was a little more turnover in my love life, I found that moving on to a new relationship wasn't enough to cure the heartache of a breakup. It wasn't until I was two breakups removed that I'd really get over a previous love and stop thinking about him altogether.

I'm wondering if the same might be true of social web sites. I've loved delicious, the social bookmarking site, for almost five years now.

Just as newspapers are scrambling to adjust to a world of blogs and YouTube, speakers are suddenly discovering they're not the only ones in the room who have a microphone. Tools like Twitter and wireless connectivity have broken the monopoly of the speech on, well, speech.

Twitter has helped move my attention from the soapbox side of social media ("Here I am blogging about the Important Idea I want to convey") towards its conversational side ("What do you think about my Important Idea?") The short message length and rapid-fire pace of Twitter, combined with the panoramic view of my friends that I get from my Tweetdeck setup , fosters a more conversational online relationship with my friends and colleagues.