Twittering Our Lives Away?

I've stated before that I don't tweet, and I haven't been hooked into any social networks (although I may be doing some dabbling). I've never really wanted to be that connected to things, so I haven't felt a need to rush into the new situations. Although at one time in my life I like to believe that I was a somewhat early adapter of some of the arts--particularly music, but movies to an extent, as well, but I never jumped into the new technology that quickly. At this point, I'd say I'm a downright late adapter. I put off getting a cell phone until I recognized that pay phones have become really hard to find.

So I'm somewhat familiar with Twitter--I've been to their site, and I've looked at a few pages. Although I can see how Twitter can be useful in particular situations, such as if you're meeting up with friends and want some quick updates about location, or even if you're doing something and need some quick advice or instruction. But I'm not sure I'm that interested in friends or other people to want to know their every move. And yet Twitter continues to expand.

A week ago, our pal Todd Allen wrote about Twitter for business at Chicago Tech News. He looked at some of the drawbacks of trying to follow enough feeds and getting an ad message out. A couple of days later, though, another friend sent me this link describing and entirely other (unintended by the Twitter creators, as far as I can tell) way Twitter can be helpful: as a search engine. I've dabbled a bit in Twitter search, and I've got to admit that I don't get it just yet. There are things to be found, of course, but I'm not sure how to either find what I want or figure out how to use what I find. I'd better catch up, though. The piece about Twitter search was followed on Monday by a Washington Post article about businesses turning Twitter to their own purposes. It'll be a whole new world soon. I guess I'd better start catching up.