After some months of using Twitter, my conclusion is inconclusive. My usage patterns are fairly clear. I scan it many times a day if I am connected to the interweb. I tweet when I am not busy working, when I want to ask a question to the ether (answers often come from outside of my network of twittermates) or when I am not working because my brain is fried or I am stuck in an airport. Often times a tweet exchange switches to an IM conversation or email thread.
I follow some people who, IMHO, tweet too much of nothing of interest to me so I resolve to fine-tune by network. But that is easier said than done. There was once, not too long ago, a website called WhoShouldIFollow.com that worked pretty well, using some scheme to come up with other people with like interests based on your tweets (I think). But it has disappeared. A similar one has appeared at crazybob.org/twubble (twitter-bubble). It scans your network recursively and tells who is following who outward from yourself. I found a few tweet-mates that way. But it takes time to scan each of them to see if there really is a good match.
I enjoy twitter most when I feel like I have something to contribute to the stream, either useful or clever (by my own humble standards). I have had some interesting things put in my face that I would not have otherwise know about. I like the feeling that other people are talking around me when I am working alone at home. And I can just listen to their conversations without participating if I choose. So it does feel a bit like osmotic team-room chatter.
I came up with one inspiration for twitter-based creativity that I am not ready to announce just yet. I think it will be fun.
The inconclusive conclusion for now is that I will stick with it and try to expand my network, maybe stop following a few people who have a low signal-to-noise ratio in terms of what I am interested in.
This post is like a giant tweet. Summary: who cares about this self-absorbed introspective blather? But maybe it will be useful to someone.
Tweet me: rwbrown