you've got me all a-twitter

Twitter... what can be said that hasn't already? I was a late convert, I'll admit. I think people use twitter for different purposes. Some people use it solely to communicate with friends. Some people use it to promote a business or a cause. The spambots try to get you to follow them in order to obtain free iPhones, coupons, or pornography (all very tempting, I know). I use mine primarily as a miniature version of my blog. It doesn't coincide with my Facebook status- it's really just to make funny comments (well, funny to me) and maybe then get them to look at my blog or send me a large sum of money because I'm so damn charming.

There are definitely some success stories. Ashton Kutcher, who had kind of faded away from the celebrity spotlight, became a news clip again when he gained so many followers (even beating CNN in a race to get to 1 million followers). I'm just as confused as you are as to why people follow Ashton (I don't... I do follow CNN), but people find a niche and they work it. Shaquille O'Neal, Stephon Marbury, and Chad Ochocinco use their Twitter account to connect to their fans. Chad, in particular is a favorite of mine. He has fun with it. He is constantly posting pictures- everything from his McDonald's breakfast to his teammates on the plane, or celebrities he has met. He also directs people to his USTREAM, where he broadcasts live, playing music, chatting with fans, and talking smack. He even uses it for technical questions- and his followers deliver. He has basically single-handedly revamped his image and put himself back in the ESPN headlines- and he knows exactly what he's doing. It's not always a good idea: NBA player Nate Robinson later deleted a tweet he sent while being pulled over by the police.

Retail is using Twitter to lure consumers in with promises of coupon codes, insider sales, and first-chance buys. Non-profits are spreading their word-of-mouth faster than even Facebook can deliver. They are used in the case of emergencies- for example, the hotel attacks in Mumbai. The biggest news story involving Twitter was the use of it by Iranian protesters- garnering attention for a revolution-in-progress. Unfortunately, Twitter is by nature a short-attention-span vehicle, and the Iranian protests showed up in the Twitter "Trending Topics" almost as long as Michael Jackson.

What I find so lovely about Twitter is that it essentially is enforcing the rules in Strunk's Elements of Style, which has repeatedly been called the essential guide to writing. Keep it simple. Keep it short. No using dollar words when nickel ones will do. Not only does Twitter force the excision of extra words, but usually letters get deleted as well. It's often easier to go on and on than to keep it concise. Like writing essay answers in school, you write and write, hoping that something sticks. I once had to do a write-up of events for a website where I was given 4-5 words per event. Hardest writing job ever, but once they were done- I loved them. They were brilliant.

Twitter, like all technology, has its pros and cons. But I think it wins its cost-benefit analysis.