The objections to Twitter remind me an awful lot of the objections people had to blogging a few years ago: “It’s self-indulgent.” “It’s all about people’s cats.” “It’s for people with too much time on their hands.” It’s easy and lazy to dismiss Twitter. By all means, don’t use the service if you don’t want to. But don’t write it off, either. David Carr, writing in the New York Times points out what a valuable service Twitter can be when used well:
By carefully curating the people you follow, Twitter becomes an always-on data stream from really bright people in their respective fields, whose tweets are often full of links to incredibly vital, timely information.
The service has obvious utility for a journalist, but no matter what business you are in, imagine knowing what the thought leaders in your industry were reading and considering
Local news needs to keep its ear to the ground, and Twitter can be a valuable source of finding out what’s happening in your community.