At first blush the Twitter micro-blogging service strikes me as a terrible idea. But after using it a little bit and thinking about implications, I can see some benefits to it. In its current form, it assumes that people are attached to a network-connected computer or cellphone most of the time. This is true for many service and office workers. But it is not true of many leaders and certainly not soldiers. Also, if a soldier has time to type into Twitter, then he is probably not doing anything important OR he is in a big mess and needs help immediately. In the latter case, I think he and his team need something more instant than Twitter.
But, from a military perspective, Twitter might be a great way for automated sensors to report thir status over the internet to a web page. It would allow an operator/observer to select the specific sensors he would like to subscribe to and wantch their every move. It would also require that the sensor be programmed to send a defined data stream or an enumerated set of statuses.
The nice thing about Twitter is (1) the delivery through a standard Internet, server, and web browser, (2) the subscription model, and (3) no disconnects because of proprietary system limitations. Certainly there are already sensor networks that send their status. But in all cases, these are closed systems and you have to use special equipment to receive and display the information. I can certainly see someone creating a gateway from the closed-proprietary systems to an IP/HTML/XML server for the internet.
Assuming you have the authority to see all of this information - imagine looking at a world map that shows the location of all emplaced sensors. From your browser, you can subscribe to a feed from any combination of these you like. The sensors might be fixed or they might be connected to mobile platforms or units. Finally, imagine doing this from any browser on any computer in the private network that is connected to the "twits" from these sensors.
The lack of a proprietary disconnect in this model is outstanding. Any defense contractor reading this could make millions on this idea. Remember, you read it here first -- Copyright, 2007, by Roger Smith.