Microblogging

Microblogging as suggested by the name is a form of blogging done in less detail. Microblogging is basically a way of keeping people posted on what you are doing right now. There are no rules about what you tell people and who you tell, you can choose to tell everyone, or just a select group of friends. You can tell them anything you want, from I am mowing the lawn, to I am about to take the biggest career step in my life. You can also post pictures and videos on microblogs, this is a useful feature as it means you can not only tell people what you have been doing, but you can also show them. Microblogs are starting to be used as advertising tools and business features. The tourist industry has latched on to this idea, the following monuments and famous landmarks have their own microblogs which keep people updated in what is going on, these include Tower Bridge, The River Thames and an orchid in Greenwich London. Barack Obama has a microblog which gives brief descriptions of what he is doing and thinking. The two main examples of Microblogs are Twitter and Jaiku, (the videos below describe Twitter and Jaiku in a little more detail and if you follow these links, Twitter and Jaiku, you will get a Wikipedia article on them). Twitter and Jaiku are almost identical, they are everything I described above, the only slight differences between them is Twitter is slightly more popular and more widely used than Jaiku, and also to be a "follower" of someone on Jaiku you have to be invited by the person, however you can follow anyone's microblog on Twitter. This means business' will generally use twitter more as it means people can go to them instead of them having to chase after people. I am sure many facebook users who are reading this will be thinking a microblog is just a much simpler version of facebook with people just showing status updates and posting pictures and videos, this is true, but unlike facebook, it is a much more personal appliance where you really are just speaking to your close friends, which depending on the person makes microblogs a good thing or a bad thing.
A video about Twitter

A video about Jaiku