Twitter - can someone explain?

I was reading a post from "The Associate" here at ATS about Twitter being hacked.

I have tried to use Twitter but I must admit; I just don't get it.

Just what the heck is Twitter supposed to be about? What does it do?

I hear the hype but I must be missing something or I am just to old to get it.

www.belowtopsecret.com...

All you do is write status updates really, I made one a few years ago, but never use it.

I think its a waste of time, but whatever.

I honestly don't get it either.. I signed up days ago. Looked into it quite deeply and I don't see why there is so much hype about it. Why is it good? I don't know.
I imagine families can use it to keep track of kids or vice versa but everyone is capable of lying to it. Also, if that was the main great feature, why did it take off so well? Why is it so popular?

When I see that ATS has it's own twitter page which is has up to date news to, I don't see how that any better than an RSS feed. In fact, RSS is far more convenient. I must be missing something.. There must be more to it!

If anyone has the answer let me know. my twitter username is Brettabra. Someone please explain the hype.

reply to post by nightrun

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Well I still drop in from time to time and I even send out a twitter or two but I really don't get it.

Maybe I am too old to see the mass appeal.

If you just wanted to keep in touch with family then there is always texting and IMs so I really don't see the appeal.

Yeah I'm not seeing it either. The more I hear about how "fun" it is, the more confused I feel. What's the big deal?

Yeah, I don't get Twitter. Signed up and made a post that I was drinking coffee, next thing I know, I get all sorts of people following me, guess they like to drink coffee too.

Waste of time, if I want to chat with a friend, I'll call them or IM them.

I also don't get Facebook or MySpace.

Yeah, I don't get Twitter. Signed up and made a post that I was drinking coffee, next thing I know, I get all sorts of people following me, guess they like to drink coffee too.

Waste of time, if I want to chat with a friend, I'll call them or IM them.

I also don't get Facebook or MySpace.

I don't use it but my understanding is that peeps use it to keep track of each other.

I think most use their mobile phones to update each other as to their movements and goings ons.

Apparently it can be quite useful during fast developing news situation from people on the ground. This was made evident during the Mumbai attacks where most of the news coming out of there was through folks tweeting on their mobiles.

But that also has its pitfalls. You get tons of unverifiable information that can exasperate the situation.

Like I said I don't use it ...

Don't need or want that much detail or info on anyone's activities.
If it's that important call me and let me know when you're done.

Twitter gets really interesting when you combine it with the twitpic service and a camera phone; you can snap a shot anywhere and as long as you have cell service you can have it live on the internet instantly. Makes for an interesting way to archive strange things you might see throughout your travels, in my case I use it as a sort of note system for myself that I can review from my computer later.

I never got an account. I hear the hype and my friends do have it.

I personally think it's stupid. It's nothing but randomly updating your friends about your day.


take a look at this cartoon making fun of it. It really sums it up on what it does.

www.youtube.com...

that would pretty much sum what twitter is.

Everyone uses twitter differently. Some like to say what they have for lunch. Others like to post interesting websites that they've found. Some are posting jokes or quotes. Some post news. If something happen, people on the scene with cellphones and twitter accounts, can report directly from the scene and even submit pictures via their cellphone. One example is the famous picture of the plane in Hudson river. A person who was onboard the first ferry that got to the plane, shot a picture with his cellphone and submitted it to twitter. MSM did not have any pictures at that point. You can follow whoever you want, or you don't need to follow anyone at all. Your choice. And you can search for keywords if you're searching for updates on a certain breaking event. If you only follow boring people and never search for anything, then I believe it might be a boring experience, yes. And if you only twitter boring stuff, there's less chance of anyone following you, if you want followers (you don't need any followers). Btw, remember to follow Abovetopsecret (= 5,000 points to your ATS account).