Twitter in real 'real time'
A few days ago Twitter launched its new User Streams API in limited beta, allowing the Twitter clients Echofon and Tweetdeck to enable it for a limited number of their users. I signed up for access through Tweetdeck and got it on Friday, so the past 3 days I have been using Twitter in the new real time mode that becomes possible with the new API.
Instead of seeing tweets in my personal Twitter feed updating ever minute or so, they appear in the very second they have been published by users I follow. For some this might sound like a minor feature, but in my eyes it is huge, because it's only with the new API that Twitter has become a real "real time service".
Since weekends are usually calm times on Twitter I look forward to the next hours and days to see how and if the real time feed changes my Twitter experience. But already now I enjoy just sitting in front of my screen and looking at the continuous stream of tweets, without me having to do anything. It's like TV, just much more interesting.
The Next Web has an overview about other new functions connected to the new API, which according to GigaOm might become broadly available until the end of the year.
