I have been slow to warm to Twitter and still remain only lukewarm. But as the tool has gained in worldwide popularity the usefulness and relevance has also grown.  It is possible to find topics of conversation relevant to your own interests. Here are some of the “people” I follow: Carlton_FC, AFL, NASA, stephenfry, DHughesy, KevinRuddPM, nolimitsforme, zen_habits, cshirky, miracle_virus, Eckhart_Tolle, alaindebotton, ALIANational, francophilia, marwilliamson, GrandDesigns09, ngv_melbourne.

I have learnt how to use the tools of twitter, so that I can talk the lingo and stay in tune. These websites have great information about how to do that: Twitter chats; Blogging Twitter and other stories for beginners; #FollowFriday the anatomy of a twitter trend; Top 7 twitter comands; The most popluar twitter acronyms; TwittEarth; The Bamboo Project in which I’m almost convinced of the value of twitter. I look forward to #FollowFriday and #MusicMonday and I often tune into conversations that might interest me.

I see no value in reading updates like “having coffee with friends” or “got the kids off to school” etc etc. And I won’t monopolise updates with meaningless information like this, unless I see it as offering a view on life that might help in some way. I do like links to interesting articles, live football score updates, emerging news of world events, suggestions for music, books, movies, and events.

Linking my twitter to my mobile phone is something I prefer to live without because it would annoy me to receive a barrage of messages that are irrelevant to my life, and I have a life in the real world that is busy, fulfilling, and I value it more than my cyber life. For businesses and ornganisations I see that twitter and facebook play an essential role in the marketing, advertising and promotion programs along with an online presence of a website and blog.

I also have not linked Twitter with Facebook or LibraryThing even though I am aware of these functions. I use Facebook for keeping in touch with friends and family and sharing photos with them. I use Twitter for a more public presence and therefore try to keep my updates on a more professional level. Ultimately I see Twitter as a new toy that is novel and fun to play with.