Twitter: A blog post in 1,962 characters.

When some new killer app becomes the flavor of the week on the Internet, I tend to give it a shot. Usually, it's free, and I have found that I am unable to distinguish, in advance, what is a stupid fad and what is the next big thing. So I risk a little of my time and give it a whirl. Thus far, my feeling is yes to YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, and no to MySpace. Twitter is the most recent of these, and my clients ask me about it often.

"I don't have time for it," is the usual objection, closely followed by "I don't get it, anyway. It's all these people tweeting about what they had for breakfast."

So let's get that last one out of the way first. Yes, there are a lot of people tweeting about what they are eating, about to eat, or have eaten. I'm sure there is some sort of lesson here from Abraham Maslow, but there is a simple solution if you are incredibly bored by such tweets (as I am): don't "follow" the person who writes them. Only follow people who post interesting stuff. Define "interesting" any way you like.

Here is what I have figured out (so far) about Twitter:

1. How many times have you heard that the best advertising is word of mouth? Well, Twitter is word of mouth in cyberspace. I write an article. One guy notices it and tweets all of his followers. Several of those followers tell all of their followers. A bunch of them tell all of their followers. And on and on.
2. There is a giant networking party taking place on Twitter. Why wouldn't you want to go?
3. With Twitter, I have a whole bunch of really bright people — people I respect — scouring the Internet for me, finding interesting links and content I would have otherwise missed. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.
4. I get valuable news content. The stuff coming out of Iran right now is better and faster than anything I can get on the Internet or TV.
5. I get to tell everyone what I had for breakfast. Coffee. Starbucks. Always.

I was sure you would want to know.

Comments

[Bob Kraft]

Excellent Twitter summary, but you need to eat something for breakfast. Just coffee isn't good for you. I've heard that can lead to premature balding...

[Jeena Belil]

Mark, Isn't there an argument that can be made for lawyers (or anyone else for that matter) making themselves more approachable when they do a little tweeting about something that personalizes them? If I don't know more about you than what you have last retweeted, I may end up unfollowing.

[Mark Merenda]

Good point. When people buy professional services, they buy the person who provides the service. It's a fine line. That's one of the great things about Twitter. You can follow people who tweet the stuff you like. I'm not much interested in someone's breakfast or pets, but others might be. I would say, though, that if you are using Twitter for professional reasons, go easy on the cute personal details. A little goes a long way.

[Max]

Ah, but you forget stumbleupon.com. Like twitter it has a small (relatively) but dedicated community. Stumble Upon works thusly, you have a button in your FireFox or internet explorer browser which brings you to a random site in line with your interests. the more you thumbs up or down something the more specific the results become. also its pretty addicting.

[Andrea Goldman]

Mark, I knew I liked you. I am a Starbucks person myself. I love Twitter and keep hoping to get something new out of it. Tweet away!

Andrea