Is There A Point To Twitter?

I listen to a lot of the TWIT podcasts, and of course Twitter keeps coming up as Leo LaPorte is a heavy user. I've long since stopped wondering "What's the point?" to a lot of these so called Web 2.0 technologies. I eventually broke down and singed up for Twitter. You can follow my feed here. The whole point to Twitter is, in 140 characters or less, what are you doing right now? Some people have found some amazingly creative uses for Twitter. I can't say I have. Michael Hyatt claims that it forces him to think about his life. I can't say it's done that for me. Typically, I just put out a blast when I think of it about what I'm doing. To this point, I'm following 3 people and I have one follower, a friend of mine.

I managed to eliminate about $10 in parasitic charges from our AT&T Wireless bill (why did my wife's line have a $4.99 "voice dial" charge?), so I felt justified in adding the unlimited data plan for my line. With that, I can keep up with email and Twitter when I'm on the go. I typically just post what I'm doing or have just done, no matter how mundane. I haven't seen any real social networking benefits. Michael Hyatt has the benefit of tens of thousands of readers to his blog. I admit, I'm one of them. I found his blog at a time in life when I was considering a few options. I realized that my career was pretty much as far as I could expect to go without a degree, but I was questioning how much of "success" and goal setting were an answer to prayer and how much were the result of hard work and smart planning. I was thrilled to find the CEO of a large company put on his own blog some of the secrets to his success. I didn't, at the time, realize that he was the CEO of a large Christian publisher, but to be honest, that wasn't important. I saw how he was using technology and time management methods like Franklin Covey and Getting Things Done to reach a high position in a company. I learned a lot by following him.

I can't say there is a real point to Twitter, but I also can't say it's pointless. Feel free to follow my feed or sign up. I know Twitter isn't for everybody. My wife refuses to try it because she says it would chain her to a machine all day. I honestly don't feel that way, but if you read my last blog entry on why I hate Mother's Day, you'd realize it's just one way that we're different. She feels chained to her laptop, I feel liberated by mine, and my Pocket PC phone, and my iPod Touch, and the iPhone I hope to have eventually, and my other laptop, and my iBook... Maybe my wife just needs another device.

Technorati Tags: Twitter,social networking