Twitter seems like a complete waste of time and effort to me. Sounds cute, but do I really want to be bothered /interrupted knowing about the minutae (sp?) of what an extended network of online friends is doing right now?
OR, constantly update this same network about my minutae?
I’m all for connectivity… can’t do without it!..but I’m
not too sure I want to be connected that much…
nowwhaddaboutallyouse?, eh? 
What in the world is Twitter?? 
Seconded, CHasR. I don’t get it.
Well obviously you folks aren’t teenagers in high school who could die, positively die, if their best friend is looked at sideways possibly by the kid who is rumored to know the qaurterback who has on the really cool T-shirt that may have been bought at Abercombie & Fitch by his sister’s boyfriend’s cousin who works there and can get an employee discount. And don’t you need to know that someone may have spewed the tuna casserole during 1st lunch?
Next weekend, I am chaperoning a 14 year old’s birthday party. At last year’s birthday party, two kids sitting on the same couch were texting each other.
If I understand it correctly, it is more or less like what you’d get if you took the status-updates from Facebook, and made a news feed
based on those alone. Presumably people who are into it change their statuses (or whatever the Twitter equivalent is) kind of nonstop.
yeh…be sure not to mix motrin with (your) alcohol.
You have my sincerest…whatever.
Thing is,(and not to get all rubber-roomish in the pub) there’s some big mahoofs touting twitter. So big, I can’t imagine some of them having the time & inclination for twitter… Think it’s all a front (as I do )? or no…
“On Twitter feeds
An odd regression
Ancient memes
Find new expression
Burma Shave!”
oh,
Bra-VO!
well done! 
Credit where due, that’s from an XKCD comic.
Seriously, have you guys ever read any twitter feeds? I mean, I don’t do the twitter myself, but it’s not (entirely) about updating everyone regarding your latest bowel movement. Think of it this way: it’s microblogging. Its a place to quickly and easily write down anything you might find interesting and maybe a thought or two about it. There’s a lot of link-exchange, there’s a lot of discussion. It’s Web 2.0 at its most condensed. It’s actually kind of cool, when you do it right.
Remember: don’t blame the tool for the faults of users.
I have a pad of paper that works quite well for that.
I’m sure that same pad of paper makes this forum obsolete, as well?
yes, well, be all that as it may, ( and Im not getting into a game of spot-the-luddite )
Is it a worthwhile activity for busy heavyweights? Or just another fashionable time-sapper?
As I said, I don’t use twitter. But, if anyone is actually interested in finding out what it’s about, rather than spouting confused and silly comments about it in ignorance, here’s an interesting thing.
Or you could, you know, just join and have a look around. No one’s stopping you, and you’re not contractually obligated to actually use it.
For a “busy heavyweight,” it will probably not be too exciting. It’s really about socializing, from what I’ve seen. There are practical uses, but day-to-day stuff is not what you might call “pragmatic.” It’s a time-sink, for sure. In bits. Here and there.
I read the stuff Congratulations recommended.
I still don’t get it.
I think we now know who spewed the tuna casserole at 1st lunch.
I’m on, I guess, my third attempt to “get” twitter. I don’t think it’s going to take this time, either. I agree with Congrats that there are people who use it reasonably well, but I also have to admit that I’ve yet to locate anyone whose feeds I really want to read regularly.
Nope. I was referring primarily to the “a place to quickly and easily write down anything you might find interesting and maybe a thought or two about it.” bit. That kind of thing I personally like to keep private. Link exchange and discussion require a more interactive venue that a spiral notebook.
Yes, and that is what I asserted makes twitter interesting. Sure, you can write in some journal that you found a video of an extremely effective toilet today, but then it ends there. On twitter, you post that video and you get to read your friends’ reactions, and they might reply with something equally engaging. In essence, a conversation begins.
I guess what it comes down to is this: Do you have friends? Do you enjoy sharing things with those friends? Twitter allows you to do that. And it allows you to do that in a way that is internet-based (so you can share links and what-not), and that allows your friends the option of ignoring you. I wouldn’t call my friends about that toilet video, but I might post it to my twitter. The main thing is it’s not just another way of sharing the same information; it’s a way of sharing information that you might not necessarily get around to sharing, otherwise.
PLUS all of that other stuff, like event-twittering and all. It’s really a huge, sprawling morass of possibility. And, again, it represents everything that’s right and good about Web 2.0.
For what it’s worth.