I used to be quite critical of Twitter, not understanding its purpose. I thought most of the post I read were quite egotistical and self-centered. Then I came across an article that made me realize that there could be some useful ways to use Twitter. It is called "Don't tweet that: How not to be a Twitter dork." It explains better ways to use Twitter and then it all made sense to me - it's not the tool I did not understand, it was the way most people are using it that does not make sense to me. I'm sorry but I don't care if you have going for a walk or watching TV. Why are you using precious bandwidth for such useless and personal trivia?
The article made me realize that the power of Twitter is to make connections between people of common interest or concern - to get feedback - to start a dialog - to ask questions. The problem with Twitter is that everything goes to every follower, much of it is not of interest to every follower. Yes, I am interested in hearing about conference discussions and finding out about interesting Web sites and articles, but the same people who post those also post about their dogs, their daily habits and other bits of personal information I am definitely not interested in reading.
Microblogging can be a useful tool, but the posts should be meaningful and directed to the subject at hand, not personal quips meant only for the Twitterer and their psychiatrist.
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