Though not necessarily the one that comes to mind.

Back when I started using ICQ its primary use seemed to be contacting my co-worker whose desk faced mine, to ask him if it was time for a coffee break. Considering that we had telephones on our desks, and could even have spoken quietly from across our desks and easily understood each other, this use was clearly for comic relief. On the other hand, once we got into the habit of using the tool in that way we discovered that we could use it for numerous other, more useful, snippets of contact.

And that's also pretty much what happened with Twitter which many saw as little more than a joke but succeeded in filling more than one useful niche.



Go to: Sticking to the Basics