在Facebook中有Real-time Updates，可以实时接受用户的更新，而在Twitter中有比其更强大的Streaming API，共有3种：Streaming API,User Streams,Site Streams，本文主要讨论前两个。基本思路是：连接Twitter Streams，创建一个长连接，不要关闭，然后Twitter会向此连接实时的发送更新，你要做的就是不断的从此连接中接受更新，然后处理之。使用Stream API当然要经过OAuth验证，这是必须滴。这点不同于Facebook(只需在请求中加上token参数即可)，当然，有很多不错的Libary你可以使用，比如：Hammock, TweetSharp ,Twitterizer。
Streaming API
可以订阅Twitter上多个用户的更新，那些用户呢？可以有很多条件去过滤。Streaming API有多个方法：
1) statuses/filter
返回用户的状态更新通知，通过参数筛选用户
参数：count, delimited, follow, locations, track ，比如通过"follow=356,398”，可以订阅用户Id为356和398这两个用户的状态更新。
2) statuses/firehose
3) statuses/links
4) statuses/retweet
5) statuses/sample
这是一个示例，系统随机返回的一些更新，供你测试，且此接口可以不用Oauth验证，Basic验证即可。
返回的内容为JSON，且包括了状态更新的内容，如下：
{"text":"pls tell me","in_reply_to_status_id":null,"truncated":false,"source":"\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/seesmic.com\/seesmic_desktop\/sd2\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003ESeesmic Desktop\u003C\/a\u003E","in_reply_to_user_id":null,"favorited":false,"entities":{"urls":[],"user_mentions":[],"hashtags":[]},"in_reply_to_screen_name":null,"in_reply_to_status_id_str":null,"id_str":"52910061479133184","place":null,"created_at":"Wed Mar 30 01:48:36 +0000 2011","contributors":null,"user":{"show_all_inline_media":false,"follow_request_sent":null,"geo_enabled":true,"notifications":null,"profile_sidebar_border_color":"C0DEED","contributors_enabled":false,"profile_image_url":"http:\/\/a1.twimg.com\/profile_images\/1093534248\/SIGN11431642_128x128_normal.jpg","profile_use_background_image":true,"statuses_count":39,"profile_background_color":"C0DEED","followers_count":4,"description":"programmer,tour,table tennis","screen_name":"jack_cai","listed_count":0,"verified":false,"profile_background_image_url":"http:\/\/a3.twimg.com\/a\/1299696992\/images\/themes\/theme1\/bg.png","location":"shenzhen","time_zone":"Hong Kong","profile_text_color":"333333","is_translator":false,"lang":"en","profile_sidebar_fill_color":"DDEEF6","protected":false,"id_str":"71195487","default_profile_image":false,"default_profile":true,"profile_background_tile":false,"created_at":"Thu Sep 03 07:10:38 +0000 2009","name":"Jack Cai","friends_count":13,"url":"http:\/\/chy710.cnblogs.com\/","id":71195487,"following":null,"utc_offset":28800,"favourites_count":0,"profile_link_color":"0084B4"},"retweeted":false,"id":52910061479133184,"in_reply_to_user_id_str":null,"coordinates":null,"geo":null,"retweet_count":0}
{
"delete":{"status":{"user_id_str":"71195487","id_str":"52910061479133184","id":52910061479133184,"user_id":71195487}}}
User Streams
主要订阅当前用户相关的状态，跟随，收藏等信息的更新，连接创建后第一次收到的更新内容为该用户的朋友Id列表。
{"friends":[1497,169686021,790205,15211564,37784836,821958,14884312,92015003,822571,63846421...]}
后面收到的更新就是用户相关内容更新(同Streaming)，如你或你的好友更新状态时，你跟随某人或有人跟随你时，你收藏一个消息或有人收藏了你的消息时。。等等，具体参加API。