Is Twitter beneficial?

I think twitter !:*&ing sucks. I have never had an account or have seen a need for it except to brag about how awesome you are.

I think it’s beneficial for people who offer some kind of service or information that requires many time-sensitive updates every day. For example, a journalist covering a political conference. But someone twittering about their humdrum life is just boring.

I think it is good for getting news out fast in a crisis situation. I don’t have an account and don’t want one though.

I tried it briefly when Ben and Andrew importuned me, but found it silly, pointless and exhausting. So I dropped out, which took some doing.

No, it really doesn’t add to the general discourse. It’s a collection of ephemeral, instant gut reactions, with no thought or deliberation.

I had a Tweetdeck window on my desktop here at work, with scrolling twitter feed. It was nice o get the occasional heads up on a breaking news story.

But when we upgraded to Windows 7, it didn’t work any more, and the IT people here won’t tell me if it a Tweetdeck problem, or what. So I haven’t had it for close to a year. And I do not at all miss it.

If you miss a tweet, you don’t care because it is all gone after two minutes.

I don’t think it’s very fun, or cool, but I do have an account. I’m not sure why though.

I like Twitter. I like that people get to the point. I can’t stand reading hundred word posts from people on the internet. Usually with an agenda. I also like that “like minded” people can find each other without being belittled by people with opposing views. A little opposition is fine but on a lot of sites it is usually 20 or 30 people piling on a couple of people.

It is good to have calm discussions. so yeah, I like Twitter.

I have an account but never got into it. Why on earth would people follow Paris ‘Marriott’ or the Tanned Aliens? I can see a use if there was a disaster that required rapid dissemination of emergency service information. Otherwise, #Idontgetit .

I don’t know…I tried making an account once. So before I could use it, it asked me to pick five interests to add to my feed…so I do that. Then it asks me to pick five more. I do it…the third time, it asked me to pick MORE subjects. It just wouldn’t let me access my account. I gave up.

It’s good for banter with famous folk, unique in that respect. That’s what I get out of it anyway, rapid fire chat & a few laughs.
Horses for courses I guess.

Yes, it is actually famous people and not unpaid interns you share banter with.

I have an account but have abandoned it since I found it to be close to useless. Not totally useless but close.

I have an account.

I use it for live chats with my favourite scientists when they do them, and to get up to the second information when shit goes down – like during the Fort Hood incident yesterday.

Otherwise, I never bother to log in.

I am pretty opposed to social media as a whole, that said, following the news, I can see how things like Twitter and FB have led to huge changes in some middle eastern/african countries so I can’t discredit their usefulness entirely. I do think the way that 90% of the users use these sites however is a complete waste of bandwidth.

The younger generation still uses it and it’s a great way to keep up with entertainers. I use FaceBook though, it’s got a nice “list” section where I follow all the record labels I like and that’s my primary function.

As a whole, it has benefitted society at times when critical info benefits from constant updates (such as during the demos and such during the “Arab Spring”) but that’s about all I can think of.

Recently it has resulted in a whole bunch of hotheaded famous people getting their shorts in a knot because of a perceived diss by somebody or other.

Twitter’s format encourages verbal diarrhea with absolutely no forethought, so it gets pretty ridiculous for people with poor impulse control.

I really haven’t found any personal use for it and when I tried to set up an account, I couldn’t get past the Captcha system used and decided it just wasn’t worth the bother.

I think beneficial is not the correct term. I think relevant is more correct except that I think that I could go my entire life without using Twitter so maybe the correct term is actually “Something to do between birth and death”.

I like twitter. I follow various accounts which lead me to the in-depth reasoned articles that I enjoy. I also follow people in my profession and enjoy that meeting of like-minds. I follow a few comedians and they make me smile which is nice. I follow a few local services and get updates on news and traffic etc which is useful. Yep, I think it is beneficial to me.