I use Facebook and Twitter differently because I have different networks on each service… there’s some overlap in what and how I post and who I know,… maybe 10-15%… but my understanding of the networks informs how I use each. Maybe you haven’t found or created a network that works for you on Twitter? Could it be that Twitter isn’t for thee?

I opened my first twitter account some time in 2007. I don’t know when Twitter closed it for lack of use, but I opened a new one maybe a month ago. This neglected account too will probably soon be closed.

I want my tweets to be different than my Facebook status updates. However, I feel that the status update — although I know it is a Twitter rip off — pretty much fulfills my need to broadcast random thoughts into cyberspace.

I thought when I read your post here on April 20th that it might be instructive for me on how to better use Twitter, but alas, some three weeks later that has not been the result.

“Twitter — the microblogging service that lets you post and read fragmentary communications at high speed — is fun, but it’s embarrassing. You subscribe to the yawps of a bunch of people; they subscribe to your yawps; and you produce and consume yawps for the rest of your days. The me-me-me clamor brings to mind Emily Dickinson’s poem about the disgrace of fame, “I’m Nobody! Who are you?”: “How public — like a Frog — / To tell one’s name — the livelong June — / To an admiring Bog!”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/19/magazine/19wwln-medium-t.html?_r=1&ref=magazine

The length of your post re: a service limited to posts of 140 characters is hilarious. Seriously though, great post.

I credit David Pogue with starting the 2009 Twitter mania. His article here gives a very good lowdown:
http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/twittering-tips-for-beginners/

Twitter is like a buffet where you pick and choose the parts that work for you. I use it mostly for technology tidbits, notifications of sales, wit and humor, and not in that order.

But I also don’t watch the dang thing all day. I use nutshellmail (.com) to send me an email twice a day with all the tweets in a digest format and I scan through the list for good stuff. I may be a student without a full time job, (but full time computer geek), but hello, even I find Twitter to be distracting to the point of utter and thorough nevergetathingdone.

Last note – “tweetdeck” is a program where you can organize twitter feeds into categories so you sift through groups of people more easily.

Just kidding.

@Wendy: here’s a couple of links that are more generous towards beginners than was my post. I spend much time evangelizing Blogs@Baruch, and wanted to try something else here.

As for your comment about early adopter elitism, that’s a fair point. I’d say first that Twitter was around for almost two years when I joined, so I was myself a bit late to the game. Also, the phrase you quoted was written as a question; I think too many people jump on a technology because they think that they should be using it rather than for a particular reason, even if that reason is open ended exploration (which is how I started… a few months later, I ramped up my usage when I saw its professional and personal utility more clearly). I didn’t mean to come across as a scold or a snob.

And, many users don’t use mobile devices… some use the web platform, others use utilities you can install on the hard drive of your computer.