Why Twitter?

Been taking advantage of a little bit of downtime to clean up my Contact Lists, using Facebook and LinkedIn heavily (per my earlier blog post on these two services).  In the process, I've noticed that LinkedIn has included a status feature among the many new product features they've launched in the last few months. 

What I am wondering is ... why would someone use Twitter?  My question has two points: 1) does anyone beside my mother care about my every little thought, update, location, etc.? (and even she likely doesn't want to know *all* that ...) 2) Is there anyone on my Twitter network who wouldn't already know my status from either Facebook or now LinkedIn?

Perhaps this is just an example of me simply "not getting it".  It happens quite a bit ...

Technorati Tags: Twitter, web services

Comments

[K.L.A.]

I had to laugh when I read your post after seeing this news article today: http://tinyurl.com/4b4hsg. The gist is that an American student who was arrested during a protest in Egypt posted his "arrested" status on twitter, enabling his friends to send aid to get him released.

Other than the obvious utility for emergency situations, I understand your point. I'm a 30-something professional who is on twitter just to keep up with my much younger 20-something siblings who live about 8 hours away. And do find that helps me stay more connected to friends I don't speak with on a daily basis. I'm all for it, but ever mindful that posting TMI on the internet can have unforseeable and even dangerous consequences.

[Linda]

I couldn't agree more. I recently joined Twitter, not really understanding what it was fully. Then when I learned what it was I was thinking, "Now, what's the point?" I scarcely have time to update my blog, Facebook (though I'm there more than anywhere) and LinkedIn, let alone tell everyone what's going on with me every waking moment. For me it would be the epitome of redundancy.

[Ben]

I don't use it either, but from what I can tell, Twitter offers a sort of sixth "social" sense for frequent users. Rather than connect on occasion, you can receive regular, realtime updates on a person's whereabouts and thoughts. It's almost like being able to read your friends' minds, to know what they're experiencing more or less as they're experiencing it.

[Matt]

Twitter is a good example of a service primarily aimed at the "time rich", and will generally be hard to justify for "time poor" folks like us. I think it's fascinating and important to try, and find it useful as a quick way to reach out to my social network with a question, ranging from: "Anyone know anyone at X company?" to "I'm in NYC and free for lunch - anyone available?"....