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“As the media changes and expands, the way we respond to it has to expand,” says Peter Norvig, director of research at Google. Early ways of interacting over the internet are already evolving into new forms, he adds: for instance, among younger people, e-mail has largely given way to communication based on a mixture of texting, instant messaging and posting messages on social networks.

SIX SECRETS OF AN ONLINE SUCCESS:Immediacy Real-time flow of comments and adaptability to mobile handsets makes it more immediate than blogging. Brevity Limiting messages to 140 characters makes them easier to produce and easier to digest.‘Pull’, not ‘push’ The ability of users to choose whose tweets they follow makes it less random than e-mail.Searchability Messages can be searched, making the content more accessible than the comments on a social network.Mixing public and personalA user’s personal contacts are on an equal footing with public figures.‘Retweeting’ By copying and retransmitting messages, users can turn the network into a giant echo chamber.

According to the Pew Internet and American Life project, a research grouping, 11 per cent of US internet users say they are broadcasting short updates about their actions, moods or thoughts, though much of this may be taking place on an existing network such as Facebook.

Broadly, Elgg represents a shift from aging, top-down classroom technologies like Blackboard to what e-learning practitioners call personal learning environments -- mashup spaces comprising del.icio.us feeds, blog posts, podcast widgets -- whatever resources students need to document, consume or communicate their learning across disciplines.