Feb 19 2009
Why you should care about Twitter
If you hang around on the internets much you have probably heard about Twitter. Ho-hum, you might be thinking. Another social media thing, who cares. Well, you should, and there are a few reasons why.
Twitter-ers have become some of the world’s fastest news reporters. The recent plane crash in upstate NY was reported first on twitter, apparently. There have been other examples of this. Twitter has become a fast-moving and entertaining way to sort of keep a finger on the internet zeitgeist (e.g. what is happening in the world, what people are talking and thinking about.)
Yes, on twitter, there are people who are only concerned with themselves, and who try to scam or spam ya, but that’s true in real life as well as anywhere else on the ‘net. (The “tubes” if you’re Ted Stevens.) In the relatively short time I’ve been using twitter, I have seen also many people who DO care about others, who help others, who offer information, (with apparently not much thought of return!) as well.
So with about a bazillion applications, spin-offs, wiki’s and all the things that spring up around good ideas on line, Twitter may well be one of those web apps that is here to stay. It’s free to use, and not hard to intuitively understand, either. 
I’m using twitterfox as an easy way to keep up w/twitter, but there are other apps people really like around it: twhirl, twitterdeck, and so on. You may need to experiment a little to see what you like.
Thanks for reading… much more to come on life, the universe, and everything (h/t to Douglas Adams) soon!
I haven’t jumped on the twitter band wagon (facebook and myspace are enough, and my buzznet and imeem accounts haven’t been touched in months) but it is amazing how social networking sties are. I’ve met MANY dear friends over the years on forums or other such sites. Some of them I’ve even met face to face. BUt they are definitely the new way that people gauge how society works. Look at all the people who’ve gotten notoriety on those sites.
Thanks dierdiri. I was skeptical about Twitter myself till I got on board a few weeks back. I made the comment on there that I felt sort of stalkerish on Twitter–and other people said they shared the sentiment–but that it was like “reading other people’s diaries but they’ve all left their diaries open and laying out to BE read.”
Yeah, I was on Facebook and myspace but I found myspace to be overdone and aimed at the younger crowd. Facebook, pretty much also. Perhaps it’s my short attention span–but the 140 characters all twitterers are limited to suits me just fine. Thanks for stopping by, I will check out your blog too!
Have a great day. ~ S