Go Tweet Yourself

Yes, it's true, I have gone and joined the throbbing masses of Twitter users. If you had asked me six months ago about joining Twitter I would have rolled my eyes or made some sort of sassy sarcastic comment about the vapidity of Twitter users. While I'm still not a Twitter junkie I have to say that I've learned to appreciate what Twitter offers.

And what is that? Well, mainly I can look up what people are talking about on a given subject in real time. It's like the chat rooms of the 90s but without the room. Essentially I can see what anyone is saying on a subject and jump into the conversation at any time. Take that small 4.1 earthquake we had last week. I was sitting at my computer when it happened and I wasn't quite sure I had just felt an earthquake or a large vehicle driving by. Searching twitter for earthquake I get instant feedback from hundreds of people describing how they just felt the earth move. And that was all in less than a minute after the quake hit. Twitter's kinda neat that way.

I decided to join Twitter when I got a new smartphone last month. If Facebook and social networking was designed for the computer user in mind, Twitter seems designed for the smartphone user. I'm currently following a couple of sites that update me with information I'm interested in. So when I get up in the morning and turn on my phone I'm instantly informed on subjects keyed to my interests (mainly videogame related but we won't go into that). Much better than waiting for my slow laptop to boot up.

I've yet to really use Twitter to do those things I despise about the stereotypical Twitter user, such as updates about trivial or mundane happenings (e.g., "I'm eating cheerios for breakfast"). When I do send out a tweet (I'm still not comfortable with that word) I tend to reserve it for crap I want to comment on but not important or interesting enough for facebook.

I don't think Twitter is necessarily revolutionary or amazing, but I do have a better appreciation for what it offers than I did before I began using it. It's an interesting service and I'm going to keep using it and see how it goes. And if you at all inclined, you can follow me @herrzrbo.