Do you twitter?

About an hour ago, I received an e-mail from someone very prominent in the information/e-publishing industry. At first thought, oh no, not another mass, blind e-mail distribution. Well, he wanted me to join twitter. I had heard about this site, but I didn't know the details.

I figured it was some type of social networking tool/web site. When I accessed the website, I found it was a social interaction tool to tell people, either friends or strangers, what you are doing that very moment.

I can see people notifying friends/family when they don't have time to tell everyone about their whereabouts at significant moments, like travel and arrival times. Another function on this site is you can identify friends, followers of your account, and how many people are reading your entries.

Very weird concept, I think.

Why would I care about people knowing what I am doing every moment of my life? Like I said in an earlier post, I'm not always online.

The site has similar functions as a blog site. The postings can be more frequent and shorter. Imagine text messages on the computer screen.

Here are excerpts from a typical twitter acct...

Not sure if Marc is being sarcastic or sincere... about 3 hours ago from [name withheld]
Rather be playing Rocket Slime about 3 hours ago from [name withheld]
Doors getting installed. Yay!! about 5 hours ago from [name withheld]
Forgot to insert the dongle. Oops. about 7 hours ago from [name withheld]
Another day of lasers, blood, and hydrodynamic focusing. My job sounds fancier than it is. about 8 hours ago from [name withheld]

See what I mean? Obviously, I'm not getting the concept.

This may be an effective tool for those Attention deficit type of folks who need to tell the world everything.

I guess people have that much time on their hands. I should clarify. I guess people have that much time on their handhelds/pds.

Maybe someone can explain the usefulness to me. I can see the "fun" factor, initially, but that will wear off eventually.