WiredPen

In the increasingly competitive space of groups-of-people-as-gatekeepers, Reuters has added a TwitterThis link to some of its news stories.

Twitter, for the uninitiated, allows members to post “tweets” to a public timeline or their “friends” (real or virtual). Methods of posting: text from phone, the web or a stand-alone application. Because Twitter grew out of a desire to easily post a single text message to a group of people, “tweets” are limited to 140 characters; many bloggers now use the service as a mini-blog or a way to promote “real” blog posts.

Select the link, and Reuters pops up a window, pre-populated with a “tiny” URL (why aren’t other news organizations doing the same thing?!?). Conveniently, Reuters counts your characters, if you decide to modify the simple “I’m reading” message. Brilliant.

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