we tweet, therefore we are

I’m snipping this and posting it here just so I have a place to refer people when they ask, as they sometimes do, what the hell the appeal is of Twitter (for me, at least). This nails it:

Twitter is a social network, yes, but it’s a social network without the superpoke scrabtaculous zombie noise and, for that, I’m thankful, because I’ve got work to do. Yes, I could spend days tidying my profile and scrubbing my friends list, but to what end? I want to know more people, and sure, it’s interesting to see what they’re up to, but what I really want to know is what is going on inside their heads with a minimum of fuss.

I want to see how they see the world. This is why I follow people on Twitter. This is why they follow me.

Here’s the full source of that nugget, by He Who Blogs Under the Name Rands (his book’s website is a knockout as well).

Facebook fatigue is setting in very, very deeply already for me, and I just can’t help but feel like its dominant position will come crashing down hard in the next 12 to 18 months.

Twitter and I will still be here when the dust settles, I hope.

folks before you had this to say:

  1. Tim '@Twalk' Walker | May 19th, 2008 at 10:43 am

    I’m with you, Rob. I like having a Facebook profile since it lets old (and new!) friends find me easily. But I check it a couple times per week, tops, just to clear out my notifications & messages.

    Meanwhile, as you WELL know, I’m hammering Twitter all day most days. I fear I WILL fulfill your prediction of 8,000+ tweets in a year . . . about five months early. ;)

  2. ant | May 19th, 2008 at 11:08 am

    Me too! Me too! I’m not as prolific a twitterer as Mr. @Twalk. I only check my facebook profile when an e-mail tells me somebody has added me. Myspace: less frequently. However, I love Twitter! Once a better iphone client comes out… I’ll marry Twitter.

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