Checking Twitter more than email and IM

It keeps happening to me, I am getting more and more immersed in Twitter. I’m really liking the conversational style that Twitter can have. Now that the technology has been solidified and Twitter is reliable, the service can really grow. I also think that the ubiquity of iPhones and Twitter iPhone applications (my favorite is Tweetie) has a lot to do with the growth of Twitter. I was at MindCamp last weekend and nearly everyone there had an iPhone, and almost all of them were Twittering the events of the day as well.

I think part of the draw is that it’s a slick technological solution to keep in touch with folks. But I think on top of that, the permalink of each Twitter, and the searchability/findability of Twitter is super cool. I think that allows people to find people who are talking about the things they care about. They can then follow them and get engaged in the conversation.

I learned of the recent terror attacks in India on Twitter. Awareness of the attacks was not only spread via Twitter, information was also shared by those who were on the ground in Mumbai. Twitter has also been used by journalists and activists in areas of the world that do not have the same freedoms that we have with regard to expression. Clay Shirky discusses activists in Egypt that use Twitter to document human rights violations in his book, “Here Comes Everybody”.

For all of these reasons, I find myself really getting into Twitter, and really seeing the value of it as a personal expression medium, but also a way to be ambiantly aware of what is going on in other people’s lives. It doesn’t take the place of actual conversation. It never will. But it is a cool way to maintain awareness with others.