William F. Garrity

There is an article in the March 4, 2010, The New York Times  that speaks in contrary to a common misconception about Twitter, that it is just a platform for people to blah-blah about narcissistic trivialities.  Sure, Twitter can be that, just as any communications platform can be.  The article points out that a real, tremendous value of Twitter is as a real-time, personalized news service. 

March 3, 2010

Getting the Most Out of Twitter

By CLAIRE CAIN MILLER

A COMMON reason given by those who have yet to try Twitter: “I have nothing to say.”

The truth is, you don’t have to post a message to get the most out of Twitter.

At its best, the social medium is a perpetual, personalized news service about topics of your choosing — whether health care reform, tech news or the latest episode of “Gossip Girl” — filtered and served to you by people who care a lot about what you care a lot about.

Even the most prolific users say Twitter has become more useful as a way to tap in to the discussions of the day than to broadcast their own thoughts. And once you get pulled in, you might just find you have something to say after all.

Mary F. Calvert for The New York Times. Janessa Goldbeck, who works in Washington for an anti-genocide group, checks a few Twitter Lists of people who work in human rights. "It's the quickest, most personalized news filter you could imagine," she said.

Biz Stone, Twitter’s co-founder, suggests that naysayers simply log on to Twitter’s home page and search for a topic they are interested in, whether it’s their favorite sports team, the name of their company or a topic in the news.

Within a minute, they understand the appeal, he said.

Twitter users write 50 million messages a day. For the holdouts, here are a few ways to make Twitter work for you.

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