Twitter — Fool’s Gold?

Everyone has drunk the Twitter Kool Aid it seems. And more people are jumping onto the bandwagon today, hoping not to miss out on the ride — let’s hope it’s not a ride right over a cliff. I am intrigued by the one-to-many, micro-blog practice. I am finding it invaluable for watching what people are doing with, and saying about, the Photobucket brand.

But at some point, the whole thing becomes such an overwhelming mess and I want to just shut the computer and walk away. Tweets combining fascinating facts with an enormous load of drivel. You have to find the interesting facts and suffer the drivel.

Brands can use Twitter to monitor what people say. And to talk back. News organizations can push a micro-summary of interesting news for busy people on the go. (Though I still like my RSS Google Reader better.) But personally? I still like my Facebook status, shared with friends.

I just read the article “All That Twitters May Not Be Gold, Analysts Say” in the New York Times. I think Twitter faces a significant challenge finding a way to charge for their service without losing their mojo. Maybe people will just become so hooked on using the service that they’ll pay to keep the drug coming.