Life on the Road – Trucking News Blog

(Tweet #1) Just left Laredo. #2: Have high value load. #3: Headed to Miami #4: Had Subway for lunch #5: Just took my BP pill #6: It’s hot down here #7: Everyone’s worried about the flu #8: Wendy’s wants Peso’s not $$$ #9: Need to PM the truck #10: need to blog about Twitter..

Are you a trucker that tweets? There are no exact figures about how many actually do, but Twitter does have an incredible 4.5 million users. It is the third most used “social network.” Face book is still the largest, followed by MySpace. As of this past February, 2009, Twitter’s growth rate was an astonishing 1382%. The service is free and you can send your “followers” – “tweets” up to 140 characters in length.

The initial “purpose” for Twitter was to be a service for friends, family, and co-workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing? In many respects, Twitter can be thought of as “micro-blogging.”  9.3 million people visit their web site.

Everyone seems to be doing it. Obviously, Twitter has grown far beyond its original mission. Actor and husband of Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher, is the first Twitter user to have ONE MILLION followers. CNN “Breaking News” has the second most followers – as of today anyway – and Britney Spears – again, as of today – is in third place. Sirius/XM satellite radio “shock jock” Howard Stern began “tweeting” about two weeks ago and already has 50,000 followers. Oprah had 75,000 followers, even before she sent out her first tweet.

I personally do not “tweet.” I blog. I Blackberry. I e-mail. I text. I occasionally still use the Post Office. But I have no business or personal reason for “tweeting.” And I do not expect that to change anytime soon. I don’t see myself “tweeting” my driver manager informing her that: “I’m MT (empty). Even though, since Twitter is free – you still pay phone charges – a typical trucking company would save thousands by not using QUALCOMM and having their drivers “tweeting.”

How long will this "Twitter”  phenomenon last, who knows? Twitter was created only 3 years ago, back in 2006. Are you interested? Go to: http://twitter.com/