Twitter.com

It took me a while to understand Twitter. I initially thought I had to come up with brilliant observations in 140 characters, and Twitter didn't work for me because that's not me. I knew I didn't want to just chronicle my mundane daily activities as some other folks were doing. So what exactly was the point of Twitter?

Eventually, I realized that Twitter is just another blogging tool (sometimes called a microblog). It's different from other blogging services in its frustratingly restrictive 140 character limit and the fact that most readers read posts in Twitter's interface rather than via an RSS reader. But it's just a blogging tool, no more and no less. As such, it can be used to publish really interesting content or horribly uninteresting content. You decide.

In my case, I embraced Twitter as a tool to aggregate an audience of people interested in the same topics as me. I repost headlines from my blogs, post links to substantive articles I don't think my readers have seen before, and leaven that with occasional personal anecdotes. I link my Twitter feed to my Facebook status so that the content is the same in both. The way I see it, people who share my interests can read me in Twitter, in Facebook or via an RSS feed. They decide. It's all good.

Twitter has all kinds of problems. It is buggy way more often than it should be, it lacks a commercial grade search functionality, it has too much spam, it needs to in-source a URL shortening feature, and reading other people's posts in Twitter's interface is a chore at best. I could go on, but I don't want to lose focus on its overall brilliance. Twitter has changed my life for the better. I didn't really realize that I needed Twitter to help me aggregate an audience and share short thoughts with them, but in retrospect that's exactly what I have wanted and needed for a very long time.

One other rave about Twitter. I've been amazed at how freely people will "retweet" posts and share it with their friends--even commercial offers that they would never think of emailing to their friends. This sharing norm is a wonderful aspect of the Twitter community.

I often hear from people an objection to the effect of "Why in the world would I want to use Twitter?" As a reader, I say don't. Find interesting people who are posting to Twitter and then grab their RSS feed and put it in your RSS reader. As a writer, if you don't have anything to say to the world, then don't use Twitter. Use Facebook if you want, but don't manufacture thoughts; it remains true today that very few people in the world care about your breakfast choices. But if you have something substantive to say, and you are prepared to keep that within 140 characters, then you need to use Twitter. What are you waiting for?

I've written more about Twitter at http://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2009/06/twitter_email_a.htm

I started using Twitter a couple of months ago because I had to learn it for work. At first, I didn't really get the point and now I absolutely love it.

Not only do I follow my friends (although they're not the most consisten Tweeters), but I also follow various news sources like @bbcworld, @cnnbrk and @TIME. There are many others on Twitter, but it's great because I log in and I can read a quick blurb on the top news articles. Depending on your industry, there may be quite a few people writing about new industry trends and topics, especially technology and nonprofit.

A must follow is @mashable who writes about social media and how to effecively use sites like Twitter and Facebook.

Another recommendation: use TweetDeck (tweetdeck.com) to organize the people that you follow and keep up with mentions, etc.

This is a really great website. People can't really harm you in any way. You can upload files from your computer to share with others, gaming sites can connect with you, and sharing URL's is really easy. It can be a little hard to get used to but it works in the end! I love this site!

Honestly, what's Twitter for? - I joined Twitter a few months ago, and I just do not get what it's for. So far I have seen two types of people:(1) time-wasters: people who are bored and like browsing Tweets and posting stuff so they can get people to read or respond(2) promoters: people who have a blog or other service they are trying to get people to look at. these people come in two flavors - the ones that actually post interesting stuff, and then the spammers. Maybe I'm missing something, but these two use cases don't seem compelling to me. I know people talk about Twitter as a good way to passively share information or communicate with a large group, but why not just use Facebook status messages? Twitter to me, seems more like a feature of a social network that a worthwhile standalone product.

I did not want to join it. I did join it because one night CNN was having a battle with Ashton Kutcher and they were trying to get to a million followers. I decided to follow CNN first, but Ashton won...and then I followed him. I found other people on there that I like that are famous and I have been amused ever since.

I have found average people that are entertaining telling me about what their dad says or how their business life is with stupid meetings and inept coworkers. I also found it useful for my current.com articles (but since current.com is a crap site...that no longer matters). I like reading what John Mayer has to say because he's funny at times. I get the CNN stuff and learn things about what's going on quickly. I also do a contest with a NYC Midnight on blogging a story in 140 characters using a specific word. It's great.

Twitter is only as fun as you want it to be. It is not necessary to twitter something. You don't have to twitter at all, you can read what others are saying and be entertained by that. Plus seeing what is on trending topics is great. That is a great gauge of what people think is important at the moment.

Lots of things are fun that seem mundane to others. TV watching would be one of those things for those that like to go outside and DO stuff. Don't like Twitter, you don't have to, but there is a reason why it's popular.

I dislike that it won't let me unfavorite some of my older favorites.

I like that I can keep up-to-date on whatever I want. ex) Follow nytimes for news, whitehouse for politics, and officialcharice to see what the singer's up to.

i joined because i wanted to follow updates from my favorite artists, and sports teams, and from my friends. it's actually pretty cool and addictive.

I used to be on it when it first started, which was kind of cool but then everyone started using it and it ends up being lot of down time on the site. I can't even log onto my account most of the time now. Also, I realize I don't need to know what everyone is doing everyone few seconds.....in a way I kind of hope the hype dies down..

Interesting - Even though twitter is sweeping the nation with its popularity, I find the Myspace or facebook are better. But thats just me because I'm pretty sure that I dont what to have to update every second of my life onto twitter. But like I said it has its ups and downs.

I havent been at twitter for even a year yet, but I can say that Twitter is very safe. Now yes, it could use room for improvement but, hey. There really isnt much in the way of control or accessibility to crap you post or what you want displayed on your main feed. I use it currently as a News Feed, but some times as a way to express my views.

Other then that, I cant think of anything wrong with the site.

Over the past year Twitter has gone from nowhere to mainstream.