The thing I always tell people about Twitter is its not “a new fangled technology” but rather brings back the basis of relationships and networking – through conversations.

Thanks again for everyone’s feedback and comments – very valuable!

I’ve had great success in meeting new people across the country (and even one cool guy in Australia) on varying topics. It’s a great way to keep up with friends. And, it’s a great way to show your humanness (which, I believe, is immensely valuable; especially in communications).

The secret is in engagement and learning to use the tool properly. The future of Twitter is yet to be seen, but what it has proven is that real-time conversation open to the world is advantageous and just plain interesting. It helps us all be more rounded & real individuals with new perspectives.

@arikhanson

It continues to be infused with more cash, it jumped from the 25th-ranked social network in terms of monthly visitors in early 2008 to the 3rd-ranked in early 2009 behind Facebook and Myspace, and mainstream media is giving it almost as much face time these days as it gave Mr. Obama last year. In fact, I was interviewed today about Twitter, its value and how I use it.

These things and more lead me to believe it’s going to kick its feet up and stay around for awhile.

Like email and other communication avenues, Twitter is as valuable as you make it. You get what you put in to it. If you share nothing but hourly updates on meals or daily promotions, you aren’t going to see much return.

Will Twitter endure? Amy brings up a good point about handling capacity. If it grows too fast and breaks, they’ll either find a way to bring it back or something else will take its place. Definitely seeing issues this week. I was faceless for a day, even.

Even if Twitter itself doesn’t exist in a few years, a service of similar, but more evolved, sentiment will thrive.

RE: Mr. Sirott. Anyone with an opinion on the value of Twitter after only using it for a couple of days and a few tweets is unqualified.

HOWEVER, unlike the pet rock and that silly looking tie, Twitter actually does a multitude of things for it participants, including (but not limited to)
* provides a platform for people to dialogue w/o blabbering on and on
* gives reporters an easy & effective way to reach ALOT of users that could give them leads they need quickly
* the most inexpensive focus group a person could ever ask for
* an incredible way to ‘rally some troops’ around a cause, effort or new product offering

AND THE LIST CAN GO ON AND ON….and, I believe, it most certainly will.

But most importantly, Twitter brings added value to the table – something that the ill-fated pet rock and piano-key tie never did.

@Narciso17

But then again, I’m *slightly* biased.

The fact that Twitter is growing so rapidly and that mainstream media outlets are picking up on it (The Daily Show, Today Show, New York Times) lead me to think that Twitter will really catch on and eventually become widespread. Especially so when people realize the connections that can be formed, the information that’s shared, and the learning that occurs in the Twitter community – it’s not just “What are you doing?”

What worries me is that Twitter itself is not ready for mass adoption. Aside from the usual arguments about revenue streams or lack thereof, I’m more worried about capacity. The number of Twitter users has grown by hundreds of thousands just in the last few months, and more will join in as it continues to be a media topic. This week Twitter users have been having problems with DMs not showing up, Tweets disappearing from the stream, replies not making it through. The usefulness of the service breaks down quickly if it’s not able to handle the traffic.

@amymengel