No Snivelling

I was talking with @daryn about Twitter today -- I'm perplexed by it. I've been using it for more than two years, and I'm still not sure what I think about it. Why is that? Normally, I'd either be a fan, or be over it. Instead, I'm still somewhat confused. At many times, it seems like another instantiation of my overflowing inbox, much like what happened with RSS readers (which I've stopped reading entirely, because of that very fact).

In fact, I've pretty much stopped trying to read any of my incoming tweets, beyond what appears on the main screen. Instead, I read my @ and D replies. Which, really, is just like having public IM and private e-mail. Or, a lot like having my IM have public and private settings. So, is Twitter just more of an improved IM play, with the advantage that the public IMs bubble up to a really good real-time search engine? If so, that's great, and I'm pretty darn happy about that. And, if people are willing to make their IMs public in many circumstances, then we've got a much more well-connected world. But, if everyone stops following their @ replies (with a service like Tweetlater or a good Web/iPhone app like Tweetie or TweetDeck), then the service is pretty useless as a communications vehicle. Which means that people will stop contributing. Which means that it turns into a bubble that pops.

So, Twacquisition, TwIPO, or Twop -- which will it be?

Labels: bubble, twitter