Difference between Twitter and Yammer
The world has become so much smaller with the advent of new technologies designed to help people express themselves instantly and creatively. Techno gadgets help us get to know people from other places and to keep in touch with distant friends and relatives.
The Internet has contributed so much to the dynamism of human connections. It is as if the distance between one person and another has been shortened significantly with the help of Internet connectivity. Several websites were produced expressly to help people become more interactive with one another (sans the telephone) despite being more or far away from each other.
Social networking and blogging sites have become extremely popular over the recent years, but now, both of these services have been conjoined and made more compact in the form of micro-blogging websites such as Twitter and Yammer.
History
Twitter was created in the year 2006 by a software maker named Jack Dorsey. The original idea was for it to simulate a group messaging service called TXTMob, where one SMS message by one individual may be read by a large group of people which could include the texter's friends and even strangers. It started off as an application to be used by employees of a directory website called Odeo, but was later sprung into full scale application in July of 2006. Since then, it has become highly popular with Internet users everywhere.
Yammer was created and launched by a former COO of Paypal named David Sacks. He founded the microblogging service in the year 2008, and launched it during the TC50 (Technocrucnch50), a conference that allowed entrepreneurs and software architects to present products and ideas for technological advancements.
Features
Those who sign up for Twitter may be able to keep in touch with people by "following" them; by this, one will be able to read and see what other people have to say, which are usually either self-composed or duplicated random messages, quotes, self-promoting lines, conversation-starters, news updates and facts. Each line has a maximum of only 140 characters, thus earning the name "microblog".
Unlike Twitter, the service Yammer does not have a 140 character limit. But like Twitter, it is basically a service for one to be able to post messages that a group of people may read, it makes use of threaded conversations and replies, is customizable (although limited only) and it is possible to tag people through their usernames.
Who Can Use It?
Twitter can be used practically by anyone as long as he or she has a valid email address. Celebrities such as Ashton Kutcher and Ellen DeGeneres have been famous for their Tweets (or the messages they post); many actors, musicians and TV personalities have Twitter accounts to promote their shows and appearances. One can either put their profile on public for anyone and everyone to see, or put it on private for only his or her followers to be able to read.
Yammer is a microblogging service that is permanently private and is only used for communication within business establishments and corporations. It restricts access to only those with a verified company email address. Like Twitter, it is a free service. Basically it aims to increase efficiency in one's workplace, and it replaces long emails with short and concise communication between employees.
Summary
Both Twitter and Yammer are microblogging services.
- Both aim to stay in touch with people within a certain location, or beyond it, for personal, social and professional reasons.
- Twitter users may be used by basically anyone, while Yammer is only for employees of companies.
