The “Recent Content” section above now has a Twitter badge, displaying the latest SMS update posted. There’s a way to have the badge do multiple updates, but I’m not sure I want to take up that much space above the fold — my main weblog content is already bumped down enough as it is. (Update: Well, I went and had it post multiple updates, three to be exact, and just shuffled the “recent content” stuff around till it all fit. The funny part is, the help file above uses the user ID of the guy who posted the example, so it shows his Twitter updates when you use the code as is. I had to dig up my own user ID number by scanning the code of my Twitter page.)

Twitter is such a simple, yet versatile concept: text, IM, email, or post short updates to a tracking page with an associated feed. It’s effectively a weblog — with a limited input capacity, even, and without much that would be considered unique in a weblog service: friend tracking, mobile posting, profiles, feeds, badges, it’s all stuff you can get elsewhere. There aren’t even comments or tags. So what makes this so much more desirable than your average Blogger account, then? Speed and simplicity are certainly factors; Twitter is concise and instant, with minimal steps between command and response. I wouldn’t have thought that one could build a viable content-based business on the concept of brevity, but there you have it. Go Go Gadget Evhead.