Scads of scammers and spammers are drinking the twit elixer, artificially pumping up their numbers of follows and followers. Are we bored, or do we have the social media munchies? Or are we cutting back on gas (as in petrol for the SUV) and gassing about online instead?

I suspect that like generations untold we are simply fixated on size. The tools have changed, the fixation remains the same.

Size is not everything. The more aps there are the fewer real people are generating and clicking on content.

I’ll keep tweeting as long as once in a while I really do hear back from a non-bot who bumped into me via Twitter.

I didnt know we were supposed to read all that stuff, twitter as a research tool what a juicy linkbaiting title idea that could make. Never would have guessed tweets provide useful information. Now I see theres a twitter secret code.

Thanks mr linkbait expert, you must be a twitter expert by now to & I have so many new keywords stuffed ideas after this bloated way past the standard 140 characters my tweet abusing fingers are used to.

wonderful twitter post m8 now i dont feel like a twit, i may learn how to utilize twitter after all.

peace
Mich D. aka @MichDdot ;)

Twitter is definitely a sausage grinder.

As far as Twitter goes, I understand the negative attitude most have about the technology. Twitter truly is the first human RSS feed. Most of our lives are too boring to deserve a RSS feed. Yet, we still tweet on in hopes that this fact will change!

But twitter does not give us the fascinating about the person, the information is highly mediated, sculpted even. It would be amazing if people actually twittered what they thought. I would say anyones life is fascinating, but how much you give away is up to the person.

Given that the people in my twitisphere are online to make money, build personal brand, increase their business network; people take great care to not do the, “oh my god, I can’t believe he just twittered that”.

It is safe and therefore boring.

My twits are mostly fishing lines, baiting the water to see what I catch. I think my twits do reveal something of myself and I feel that it does of most people, even if you are very careful.

What I’ve learned is a lot of top class bloggers who I read and respect are really quite boring. But I guess even Oscar Wilde had his moments of banality.

It seems every day there is an airport twit, but then I’m probably following too many jet setters.

I still need to devise a twit bingo.

Oh, and booo! Are you ever going to accept my follow? I swear..you don’t even have to like me.. *-)

In summary, Twitter – not as bad as crap fringe theatre, not as good as going down the pub with your mates and finding a tenner on the floor.

1. It’s like an early warning system, helping me get the buzz from early adopters and therefore get a bit of a heads up so I can do some research before opening my mouth.

2. I can easily reduce the signal to noise ratio by not following people. I only follow those whose EVERY post is interesting and regularly trim my follow list. There are some interesting bloggers and talented SEOs out there that think I’m interested in when they take their kids to school or motorbikes blowing over, but they’re not getting my attention.

Other than that, I agree that the yanks suffer from SOH failure, the temptation to wind them up and watch them go is very strong.

@Jason, good point Jason, it certainly is a quick way to reach your followers. I think it’s worth giving it a few tries to find it’s worth.

@Juile, I’m certainly freaking something…..

However, I do find value in twitter in a couple of places. I’ve seen Michael Gray use it a couple of times to send out a request for help (wanting to know where he could get more information on something or the right link someplace) and get answered immediately. I’ve also found value in the quick link. Though I hate the tinyurl function because I never know where I’m going, I still click most the links from those that I trust. They are passing along a link, usually a blog post (ahem), just like they would in stumbleupon or pownce. So to me, I find twitter valuable in the fact that it can be used as a quick distribution method.