Why I Heart Twitter More Each Day

Yes folks, it's another Twitter post. Jason Pontin made me do it.

In an article in the Sunday NY Times Business Section, Pontin said that Twitter is basically a new digerati time waster, a geek toy, etc, etc.

He says he's skeptical that Twitter'll ever become a sustainable business or a widespread platform. I think he's wrong.

Less is definitely more on Twitter. In answer to Twitter's only question of "What are you doing now?" information about projects, meetings, new clients, news, blog posts, books, movies, music and lots more shows up among tweets on my Twitter network. And it all fits just fine into 140 characters and a link.

Beyond networking, Twitter has great potential not only in news and networking, but in marketing of events and contests, and in project management.

You choose your friends in Twitter, and can elect to share your posts only with your contacts. (I zap people who talk about what they had for lunch because, well, who has time for that!) You have the opportunity to create a network that has instant interactivity and community, with online and mobile connectivity.

I see Twitter as essentially an update of videotex and Minitel, which didn't catch on with the US public when they were introduced in here in the 80s. Like videotex, Twitter is incredibly simple to use, requires no technical skills, and can be used any time you choose, any way you want. It could surely use search, and better archiving, but it's pretty cool the way it is.

Many bloggers and Twitterers have pointed out uses for Twitter, including:

Sharon Sarmiento at 901 am lists several Twitter uses today.

Soyapi Mumba notes that "... Twitter provides a good alternative for people in countries where cell phone use is widespread but Internet access is not. "In Malawi for example, there are about 50,000 Internet users against about 700,000 mobile phone users out of a population of about 12 million.”

Michael Specht lists lots of ways to use twitter, including for job hunting.

What are you doing with Twitter?

More twitter chat over at the Unofficial Twitter Community and forums.

http://www.twittown.com