NAI Twitters and Tweets

June 25, 2008 / Written by: Wendy Dolci

Do you Tweet? If so, then you’ll be happy to know that you can now follow an @AstrobiologyNAI Twitter stream. If you don’t have any idea what the first two sentences in this article are about, keep reading! They refer to a micro-blogging tool called “Twitter,” an increasingly popular, instant-messaging service that is quickly becoming the place where news breaks first, outpacing mainstream media. Individual blog entries in Twitter are called “Tweets,” and are limited to 140 characters, based on the premise that short messages will be to the point, and will be posted frequently. Twitter users post short messages and can choose to “follow” other users, and information can be sent and received on the web, by phone, or through instant messaging. Wondering how all this might be useful? Consider the fact that Mars Phoenix first announced the recent finding of water ice on Mars by a Tweet, and as of this writing has over 26,000 online followers, more than CNN Breaking News.

We’ll be Tweeting the latest NAI and astrobiology news. Follow us at http://twitter.com/AstrobiologyNAI.

If you’d like to know more, check out the following articles about Twitter.

The New York Times: Phoenix to Earthlings: I’ve Landed! Awesome!

Wired: The Real Value of Twitter to NASA Space Missions

BBC News: How Twitter Makes it Real.