I started using Twitter just before the convention. Since returning from Denver, I’ve been updating sporadically but I’ve slowly been increasing the number of people/organizations I’m following. Deciding who to follow has been an interesting exercise. Basically what I’ve been doing is looking at who’s following me and checking out who they are following. You can learn a lot about people when you look at their Twitter page 😉 .
When I first heard about Twitter, I pretty much blew it off as another social networking thing aimed at youngsters. Boy, was I wrong! NPR is on Twitter, The New York Times is on, as is The Richmond Times. (The Virginian-Pilot has an account but hasn’t posted anything.) And, of course, the news outlets like CNN are on Twitter, along with a lot of campaigns.
I’m really not much of a cell phone person; besides, I’m usually at my computer during the day, so it’s easy enough for me to keep my Twitter page open and check it for updates/replies. Since I use Twitterberry (and because I don’t have unlimited messaging on my phone), I turn off the device updates. That way, I control when I look at Twitter.
Twitter has changed the way I process information. No longer do I have to surf around various websites; instead, I just check my Twitter page. And if something comes up during the day that I want to comment on but just don’t have time to write a blog post about, I can Twitter it instead.
A really interesting opportunity to use Twitter is coming up soon. Current TV has teamed up with Twitter to broadcast tweets during the presidential debate on September 26. (In Hampton Roads, Current TV is carried on DIRECTV and Dish Network.) Current TV, according to this article, was co-founded by Al Gore.
So if you haven’t checked out Twitter, maybe you should 😉
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
Kids these days.
Vivian, my reaction to Twitter was the same. At first I thought no way, now I’m warming up to it. Now, if Facebook would just stop freaking me out….
Put me down for “no,” mainly because I don’t need to feel compelled to share the incredibly boring trivialities of my day. Being able to check NPR’s twitter seemed like an interesting perk until I remembered that I can also listen to NPR at my desk.
MB – you’re just jealous 🙂
Brian – just kick Facebook to the curb 🙂
silence – I can understand that. But I don’t listen to NPR at my desk – too distracting.
Vivian,
That’s looking more and more likely.