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Woofer: Twitter's 1,400 Character Opposite

by Leila Brillson on August 27, 2009 at 12:30 PM


In speaker technology, the opposite of a tweeter is a woofer, which pumps low-end frequencies while the tweeter amplifies higher-range sounds. On the Web, a tweeter is one who frequents Twitter, using the micro-blogging service to blast 140-character-or-less messages called tweets. So Twitter's opposite is, naturally, Woofer, a new micro-, err, macro-blogging service that requires a minimum of 1,400 characters.

In no way affiliated with Twitter, the site seems to be growing, with already over 9,000 users. The preferred Woof seems to be copy and pasting, with the Gettysburg Address and the beginning of 'Moby Dick' being popular entries. Labeled an 'homage' to the little bird, Woofer's interface is the exact same as its more popular little sibling, with only a burly bulldog instead of a little bluebird. It even includes a field for entering a Twitter user name.

Here's the issue: there's no place for passwords, just Twitter usernames. When one woofs, Woofer displays the avatar and name from the associated Twitter account. Thus, impersonating someone is incredibly easy. Peter Martin, CEO of Join The Company, which runs Woofer, told the Wall Street Journal, "We do not have a login system. Technically anybody could put their names up just like they could on any message board. It's not surprising people are signing their name as God, Oprah or Abraham Lincoln. It's a silly site."

So, while Woofer has some kinks to work out, it might be on to something. Not everyone has time to crawl their friend's blogs, so a Woofer account might help, acting as a daily friend feed. Maybe, if Woofer took its woofs seriously, as opposed to just being a funny imitator, it could be the next big (1,400-characters big) thing. [From: Woofer, Wall Street Journal, and NetworkWorld]

Tags: micro-blogging, top, Twitter, web 2.0, Web2.0, Woofer

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