martinibuster - 8:15 am on May 4, 2011 (gmt 0)

Read an editorial by a "social media entrepreneur" named, Sarah Granger, [sfgate.com] who defined Twitter in this manner:

Twitter has become the backbone of the world's online media infrastructure... [Twitter] has now become a symbol of global freedom and citizen engagement... Twitter has become a household name, a destination, a verb, and a symbol of hope.

Frankly I was surprised to read that Twitter was now a symbol of global freedom and all that. It got me thinking. What else is Twitter?

Here's a partial list, off the top of my head

• A recommendation engine.
  
• A tool for communicating with customers.
  
• A supplement to press release activity
  
• A replacement for email
  
• A recipe book
  http://twitter.com/#!/search/vegan%20curry%20recipe
  
• A tool for identifying the optimal time to burglarize a tweeter? :o
  http://twitter.com/#!/search/%22I'm%20on%20vacation%22