Why I might have underestimated Twitter

Yes, I admit, I never understood the point of tweeting. Who cares if you can use 140 characters to describe what's going on in your life whenever the hell you want? TMI, in my opinion. Of course, that was before I figured out how I could use it to my advantage. And like any good, slightly self-obsessed person, I decided to check Twitter out and see what it was like.

Less than 24 hours later, I am Twitter obsessed. It's quick, it's quirky, it's fun. I've got people following me (mainly from the southern half of the US for some reason) and I've done nothing more than tweet about hipsters and studying Italian. Great success. My roommates are on Twitter - one for class, one for fun - and it's like having our own mini-network online. I can get news updates, celebrity stuff, find out about new books coming out. Everything that an instant gratification culture yearns for.

Of course, it's kind of creepy. I know that by going out there, I'm sacrificing a lot of my privacy. But on the other hand, I'm also not putting me out there - only part of me. It makes me wonder if all these forums and networking sites are creating multiple dimensions within people. Not multiple personalities (as that has a pretty exact definition from a psychology standpoint, and one doesn't exactly choose to make these other personalities). But I have to admit, logging on to Facebook has a completely different vibe than logging on to Twitter. Maybe it's how I've presented myself on there, such as Facebook is a high school/personal site for me and Twitter is more about culture and work. Or maybe the differences in layout and use completely changes the vibe of how one feels when using Twitter. Makes me wonder how the people who tweet every five minutes for attention think about the site compared to those who are using it for business and networking. Or maybe there's not that much difference after all.

Regardless, it's a nice change. I'm actually kind of tired of Facebook - mainly because no one I know uses the chat features anymore. And the whole Social Network movie (which I haven't seen, but intend to) kind of puts a damper on things. I don't know, maybe I just need relearn how to use Facebook (since last year it became all about playing games on there and nothing more). But somehow the status part of Facebook is really my favorite part. And if I can get that on Twitter without the distractions of other stuff (namely those darn games - curse you, Mafia Wars!) and feel less creeped on (Twitter does have less personal info available, which I appreciate) then I can see Facebook becoming less popular. But I doubt that's going to happen anytime soon. Especially if the Oscars choose to glorify The Social Network, then I guarantee Facebook will stay popular for a long time. But it doesn't mean they won't get some competition from the Tweetland.