What is Twitter? And why should I pay attention?

Obviously I know what Twitter is. Any self-respecting technophile does, but I guess my bigger question is the “Why should I pay attention?”

I’ve been trying to get my head around Twitter for about a year now, but I’m still waiting. I guess I’m just not sure how it’s useful. Or more accurately, I’m not sure how it’s useful for me. In the roughly one year I’ve had a Twitter account (vigilanteweb is my Twitter account name), I’ve posted 2 updates (tweets). My latest tweet is “ Testing twitter test test test “, posted October 25, 2007. As of right now, I have 15 people following me, 4 of whom I don’t know (not even as web friends).

So what gives? I’m not sure whether Twitter is the perfect microblogging platform, an easy way to reach out to your friends and customers, a cool toy, or just another noise generator. I’d love to hear insights from avid Twitterheads.

I do have to say that I also use Twitter for Vigilante Sports. I use it to power the Quick Hits sidebar. I use it mainly because of the SMS and IM integration. I can post to it very easily from wherever I am. So I can totally see the microblogging side of things, it’s the others that I’m not so sure about.