The question “Are you on Twitter?” is quickly becoming one which should be answered with a “yes” by anyone on the connected side of the digital divide. Though the service is just over two years old, the depth and capabilities of the network are such that overlooking them should be seen as a detriment to one’s own ability to operate online. But why? What’s all the big fuss about?

Neither a Blog Nor a Social Network

While Twitter is billed as both a microblogging service and a social network, it really is neither of these. Though Twitter can be lumped into either role with some amount of luck, it’s actually closer to a new communications medium – like email it can deliver written messages individually or en masse, yet the messages are maintained online in a searchable, permanent manner – like a web page. Twitter fills in as an important role, one which is supplemented by it’s portability, plugs the gaps between a quick text message or phone call to a friend and a full blown blog post; Twitter means that the message is never really out of reach, be it personal or professional.

Addressing the Flaws

Lore Sjoberg, blogger at Wired.com pointed out what he saw as Twitter’s greatest flaws months ago. Back then the service had already snapped up enough of the tech elite and early adopters to be draw considerable attention. To paraphrase, Lore saw two primary problems with Twitter: 140 characters is not enough to say anything interesting, and the primary question posed begs boring answers.

The Character Limit

Myself being a rather verbose writer, it’s amazing that I would come to disagree with Lore on the importance of the character limit. Lore feels that 140 characters is simply “not enough for really interesting postings, while being way too much for boring postings.” The reality seems to be that users learn that brevity truly is the soul of wit. Words are chosen more carefully, unnecessary word are eschewed, with the correct word being chosen to fill the role. To put it bluntly, Twitter distills content to the bare essentials.

The Question

Comic from PC Weenies

Taken at face value, the question “What are you doing?” is a silly one, and one that will always be answered with the some version of the same answer, “I was doing something, but now I’m twittering.” Yet, this is the question which Twitter sprang from – taking the concept of Facebook’s Status Message, and removing the rest of Facebook. This is, of course, the concept that Twitter was launched to fill – a means for people to constantly update their status, perhaps under the belief that those who live the most interesting lives would in fact win.

The Reality

Of course, this isn’t to say that Twitter is a bastion of witty quips which would make Hemingway smile. Quite the contrary, there is a great deal of inane and insignificant postings of which I am as guilty of supplying as any other on the service. But that doesn’t take away from Twitter, rather it seems to cement the service as viable, as real. As a collective whole, Twitter has become a giant conversation, and like all lengthy conversations, not everything is a gem.

The Value is Where You Find It

What has set Twitter apart, and what has made the service near-necessary is that it is a giant conversation. The number and variety of users means that someone, somewhere on Twitter is talking about or interested in something of personal value to you. Truly a first, Sean Bonner used the service to propose to his wife with the oh so romantic “So…um, wanna get hitched?” She said yes, by the way. Perhaps marriage isn’t your style. James Buck’s one word tweet certainly got the attention of his friends and followers, not to mention the international media. Sent from an anti-government protest he was attending in Egypt, James was only able to get out one word, Arrested, before being escorted from the protest by Egyptian authorities. His plea for help enabled his friends to alert the authorities, and allowed him to get back out of jail. And then there’s the out of this world, like when the Mars Phoenix program twittered the discovery of ice on the red planet. Or the on the ground reporting from Mumbai. Or from President-Elect Obama’s Acceptance speech. For a service so young, it’s been used in a lot of interesting places.

The Fastest Name In News

NPR's Andy Carvin

These are, of course, extremes. Twitter cemented itself as valuable for me during the Presidential Primary season. During perhaps the most important Presidential race of my lifetime, I was working evenings at UPS, and was thus cut off from the flow of political news. The folks at NPR, spearheaded by Andy Carvin, were actively tweeting results in real time. Because Twitter is built to leverage SMS technology, I was able to get real time updates to the results sent directly to my phone. No need to surf, no need to search, Andy and the crew at NPR simply sent out short dispatches showing the play by plays.

NPR isn’t alone in using Twitter as a news medium, either. The character limit, lauded as being too short for real content, is almost tailored for headlines – able to portray the essence of a story with a link to the greater contents. Focusing Twitter in this medium allows the service to be the most heavily staffed news source in the world, with everyone from casual bloggers to major news organizations funneling their content in. Due to the viral nature of twitter, with quality postings being repeated from user to user, a story can quickly grow legs, exponential legs.

A Two Lane Road

Unlike the traditional publishing paradigm, where news moves in a largely one way flow, Twitter facilitates communication equally in both directions. As Twitter largely decentralizes it’s publishing methods, this provides a rather odd sense of actual communication, breaking the Us/Them or Mainstream/New Media scenarios associated with content platforms like blogs or websites.

Franks's In Your Twitter, Reading Your Tweets

The result of this switch, when paired with how easy it is to creative a searchable live stream of content on Twitter, can be shocking, as many users have discovered when twittering about Comcast in frustration. I know I was caught of guard when one day, after a rather lengthy commute, I discovered that my cable was out and fired off a bitter tweet about Comcast into what I assumed was the void of the internet. Within moments I had a reply from a user called ComcastCares asking if they could help.

I’m not going to lie, at first I was bit disturbed that Comcast was addressing me directly, openly on Twitter. But after sitting back for a few seconds, I realized that this is actually what I wanted. I complained, and my situation was immediately addressed. The result, however, was so much more. I was able to put a face and name on Comcast, and suddenly found myself “not hating the Comcast as much.”

Frank Eliason, the Director of Digital Care for Comcast and the force behind the ComcastCares account, might not have been the first to use Twitter for this time of public relations work, but he is certainly one of the pioneers. Other companies are learning to make use of Twitter to actually engage their customers. And politicians are using Twitter to address their constituents. Once you get over the novelty of the idea – of issues actually being addressed in the open like on Twitter, the medium actually sells itself.

The Beauty is in the Simplicity

Twitter itself is not perfect. It’s not a one-size-fits-all solution for communication in the ultra-connected world. But it is a powerful platform that allows for myriad types of information. Between the casual bits of banter, ideas flow, not just down, but up. People are able to connect with others, easily, and in real time. The entire thing is so oddly democratic.