Micro-blogging, that is posting one’s personal details on the web for readers across the world, is the height of cool these days. Similar to blogging, these micro feeds allows other people to have access to the details of one’s daily life.

A micro blogger needs to create a profile with a blog service to post entries which are shorter than a standard text message, normally no more than 140 keystrokes. Unlike blogs, there is no need to click the profile page with a browser, as micro blogs can be sent and received via instant messenger, SMS, email or other software.

Wondering what makes people post their personal details on the web, the Examiner questioned those who are planning to join micro-blogging mania- and got some astounding answers. Mike Magee, Consultant, said: “It is my massive ego to be famous, that makes me blog.  I feel my life is interesting and I want everyone to know about every detail of my life, including the laundry wars”. 

A senior executive with an IT firm, who plans to create his micro-blogging profile in the next few days, said, "These small feeds can be really interesting on the personal front and can be very useful from a corporate perspective. I was skeptical about it earlier, but having followed twitters for a while, I feel it is a nice way of promoting corporate details. These days, no one is interested in reading long pages, readers want short and precise information. A twitter can always be used to promote the final content of product."

So will this replace traditional marketing tools? "No, I don’t think it will. When a new medium hits the market, people start speculating that it would replace the previous. Twitters will definitely complement other communication channels, but it is too short to replace anything." On a personal level, he says: "It is an interesting way of saying what I am doing at the moment, to let those around me know about my current activities."

Benedikt Koehler, a sociologist at the University of the German Federal Army in Munich, explains, "Micro-blogging is like an ongoing hallway discussion, where there's always something new to experience and where you can plug in or tune out whenever you want," reports the Economic Times. The limited character count not only makes composing easy for the blogger, but the short and crisp posts also catch the attention of readers.

The most popular and widely used site is called Twitter, which was launched two years back and is designed to satisfy the curiosity of those who want to find out "what are you doing right now?". Users can decide whether only specific twitters can read the updates or all the twitter. But its popularity has resulted in a number of new sites, such as Pownce, Jaiku, and Friendfeed, all of which are English-based. Versions in other languages have also appeared, such as the German sites Frazr, Wamadu and Niimo. There are also similar status posts available in social networking sites like Facebook, Myspace and Xing. X