Who Needs Google When You Can Twitter?

So what's the big deal about Twitter? Mashable contributor Soren Gordhamer has some answers in "How Twitter Is Dethroning the Old Guard."

Gordhamer notes how the "next great social media site" may soon replace some of our most-used online actions, including searching for information, e-mail and even MySpace. He writes:

To the extent that Twitter will begin to truly rule these areas is unknown, but I think it’s hard to argue that it is not already having an impact.... Twitter is clearly riding the waves of our time, and could have an even more significant impact on social networks, search, and communication than it does today.

Noting the power of the Twitterverse, Gordhamer poses the question: Why look something up on Google when it's faster to get the answer from your Twitter followers? "As information becomes more social, Twitter provides both a community and a much more effective means of finding emerging news and content than Google does," he notes.

As for e-mail, its faster to send a tweet; and MySpace contains too many graphics and other information for a generation increasingly using mobile devices to connect.

Each day more of my students are signing up for and finding new uses for Twitter. It's time to devise a fun classroom experiment.

BONUS COVERAGE: Don't miss this list of Twitter "don'ts" by Sean Ludwig.

MORE BONUS COVERAGE: "Twitter's Hot, Sure, But What Does It All Mean?" by Peter Ames Carlin in The Oregonian.

-rp-