As a growing number of charities are creating blogs, is it time they try Twitter or other so-called micro-blog services?

Twitter allows users to write frequent messages of less than 140 characters and send them to people by e-mail, cell-phone text messages, or via other electronic communications.

Christian Kreutz, a communications specialist at a German antipoverty group, writes on his blog Crisscrossed that there are pluses and minuses to the service for charities.

He writes that the short length of the messages is less than ideal for discussing complex topics. “What could be explained in 140 characters? Is that seriously enough for a campaign or advocacy?” he asks.

But he adds that Twitter may be useful for organizing protests or sending messages about breaking news related to a charity’s mission.

What do you think? Could Twitter be a help or a hindrance to nonprofit groups? Are there any charities using it? Click on the comments link below this post to share your thoughts.

Twitter users can also follow the latest updates from The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s Web site