I don't want too follow too many people because Twitter is very time consuming and if I want to be able to at least scan if not read all the comments that come to me. I also like LinkedIn a lot (hasn't been mentioned). I am not on Facebook and hope to hold off on that as long as possible (can only spend so much time on all of this). I would prefer to focus on Twitter and LinkedIn. Also, I'm thinking about creating a blog, and both LinkedIn and Twitter will help me get the word out. I also like online forums and the Bank Marketing Network online forum is outstanding. I value it more than any other medium because it is very specific to my interests.

I don't like any of the location markers–don't need or want to know where people are and don't want them knowing where I am. They appeal to teenagers and young people who are in that very “social” stage of their lives. I think it's why it hasn't caught on in the Twitter world. That being said, if I had a retail business I might be more interested.

I, too, believe that Twitter serves a much different purpose than the other forms of social media and will continue to have a place–especially for breaking news and for professional learning and networking. I find so many great articles and blog posts through Twitter. Teens are focused on personal relationships so it makes sense to me that Twitter is not their thing. Business that focus on teens wouldn't use Twitter to reach them.

Great conversation. I've really enjoyed reading everyone's thoughts on this.

Lamar Morgan

Part of the “problem” is the influx of celebrities. Witness today, even the Dalai Lama joined it — probably in part because there is an audience awaiting what he might have to say. That's dandy. But it seems that more and more celebs are hopping on, because it's now “proper territory” for them, even encouraged, for self promotion, or even just to combat fake profiles so there's no problem with confusion among their fans.

I usually post some silly thing maybe once a day or so, humoring myself that maybe someone is paying attention. I have about 145 followers and it seems that very few of them actually notice — and indeed often any replies (scant though they are) come from someone not following me, who found what I said via a keyword search. Odd! At any rate, aside from my own amusement through this slight creative expression… the service is virtually useless to me in a “getting the word out” regard.

It's also becoming too much about itself — people on Twitter, talking about Twitter… because they're all interested in Twitter.

So yeah, I've ended up following either celebrities or people who will tweet articles of interest… such as yours. That is useful in its own way. And you're right; it's not “social” really at all. If you get too interested in actually being heard, you end up trying to sell your soul for followers, or begging people to post something for you so it'll be seen. It actually becomes annoying how often folks (strangers) will suddenly follow you and then unfollow within a short time because you didn't reciprocate!

And followers are the currency of the realm. I'm thinking that this service might actually be more useful if it was a “friending” environment; you send a request and it's accepted and you're both then connected. But, that creates a whole other drama… maybe part of why people are becoming discouraged with MySpace. Too swollen. For me, and many others I suspect, it's only desirable because it's often “entertaining to read.” But as these many-followed people get more encouraged by having an audience to post MORE… it becomes too unwieldy even for that pleasure.

Agree with most comments here, two tools part of a larger strategy. I love from twitter that I can follow or search people/topics I'm interested at the moment, and if my interests shift I might simply unfollow and move to a new trend. In my mind, twitter is better for introverts, more impersonal, hence good for many businesses, facebook is more for extroverts, more personal, and better for industries that benefit from a lot of emotions like the NASCAR fan base.