Twitter!!!

I did not want to join Twitter for the same reason I avoided listening to  . It seemed too high on itself, too catchy, too EVERYWHERE to ever be given a shot. Then squarespace offered a free iPhone, so I joined. 

I am now a believer. I "followed" my favorite hometown athletes, Shaq, CNN, and several other news websites and now it's like my own mini newsfeed/window into the personal side of my favorite athlete's brains. Once they threw in tiny URLs that linked to longer stories when necessary, they covered all three aspects of what makes me (and just me personally, not necessarily everyone else) care about news. Twitter is a completely customizable personal news medium.

The fall back: their limit on characters is too brief. I admire the idea behind it, but in many instances it handicaps the writer to such an extent that sometimes they must go as far as changing what they set out to say in the first place. It doesn't allow subtle delicacies like wit to shine through.

I'll give them this: there's beauty in the brevity, but it may be too much of a good thing. Extend the character limit! Perfect.