You've heard me talk before about Twitter, the wildly popular short message service. I've even posted my Twitter page on here. danah boyd is asking questions about Twitter over at her blog (I also mentioned it in my latest Asides), so I figured I'd go ahead and answer them as best I can.

In the name of research, of course!

First, the practical question. Can i quote you?
[ X ] Yes, and you must use my real name. (that name being Karsh, of course)
[ ] Yes, but please use a pseudonym and don't use any identifying information.
[ ] No, please just use this for your own weird thoughts.

1. Why do you use Twitter? What do you like/dislike about it? Mainly, I use Twitter because I can't blog at work, and when ideas or things I see come to me, I often have the compelling urge to share them right away. Twitter allows me to do that whether I'm on the train looking at a woman try to lick her elbow or at work in a boring staff meeting. It's also good because your Twitter friends (the ones who are following you, anyway), sort of serve as your personal on-call focus group. Need to know a good restaurant in Midtown? Tweet it. Trying to find a decent cell phone on Cingular? Tweet it. The responses are honest (140 characters inspires brevity, after all) and, for me, more reliable than searching online because I know these people. They know what's going on with me and I know what's going on with them. It's like IM, but better, because it's not so instant, but it's still present.
   
   My dislikes? When it breaks or when tweets become backlogged. It's come to be expected though, so not even that sweats me too much.

2. Who do you think is reading your Tweets? Is this the audience you want? Why/why not? Tell me anything you think of relating to the audience for your Tweets. Aside from the people on my friends list, everyone and no one is reading my Tweets. They're public. Is it the audience I want? Sure…if I'm garnering an audience (which I don't think I am). I often tweet from the seat of my pants, although I have had some folks try and add me (mainly inane services who got on Twitter in some hope of gaining popularity).

3. How do you read others' Tweets? Do you read all of them? Who do you read/not read and why? Do you know them all? I follow the ones I want to know more about, and to hell with the rest. OK…that sounds kinda mean, but you have to consider Twitter etiquette (I'm talking from the school of Jason Toney specifically, here). I don't know them all — some are fellow 9rulers, some are my blog contemporaries, and then there are those who I swear are paid by Obvious to tweet all day. Paul Terry Walhus, I'm looking at you, man. Then again, the thing about Twitter is that you really can't expect all your friends to read all your tweets. Nine times out of ten, Twitterers also have their own blogs. Why reinvent the wheel?

4. What content do you think is appropriate for a Tweet? What is inappropriate? Have you ever found yourself wanting to Tweet and then deciding against it? Why? There's really only two things which I think are probably inappropriate for tweets (in my eyes, at least): constant status updates at a quick frequency (making a sandwich…eating a sandwich…finished eating sandwich…digesting sandwich…) and folks carrying on a conversation using the @username command across your public tweets. That's what d username is for…take it offsides. I think everything else is fair game (although posting about sex, for most Twitterers, is crossing a line). I usually try to meter my tweets because I don't know how people are receiving them. Currently, people can receive tweets by phone, e-mail and IM. I tweet as though all of my Twitter friends are receiving them as text messages. While they may not be, it helps me to separate the relevant from the bullshit.

5. Are your Tweets public? Why/why not? How do you feel about people you don't know coming across them? What about people you do know? Yes, my tweets are public, mainly because I have other services which aggregate my tweets (Jaiku, Tumblr and 30Boxes). I don't mind people I don't know coming across them, but I'd at least appreciate a d username message from them before adding me all willy-nilly.

6. What do i need to know about why Twitter is/is not working for you or your friends? Twitter works for me because most of my friends live in other cities and states anyway. It's cheaper than a phone call, it's personal while being conscious of space and it's kinda fun.

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