Here's why I now use Twitter:
It finally started to work.
First try
Twitter was riddled with constant downtimes (down for 5 days in a row once!), lots of malfunctions, a non-functional AIM client, and overall service that was slowww. I was sure that the tech problems were going to turn people away to a competitor. Somehow people stuck with it (I didn't, but came back months later).
Second try
Fairly smooth service (at least their outages are scheduled).
The conversation evolved and I found a community
First try
In Twitter's early days people were in experimentation mode, so most posts were about mundane, personal activities (see below). For me, this was intolerable since the people I followed weren't personal friends. I could really care less what kind of coffee some guy I never met was drinking.
Second try
I now use Twitter the same way I use the blogosphere - as a new media information source. I follow a small group of people that post interesting links and thoughts (see below). If their posts become too personal and mundane, I stop following them. Once again, the actual people within any online social tool is what determines success. A tool can be incredibly cool and useful, but if you can't get your friends to join or at least find people you care about, you'll drop the service. I've experienced this personally with great services like Iminlikewithyou.com and Me.dium.
Alternative viewing tools are now available.
First try
Visiting Twitter.com was out of my way and phone notifications were just too invasive.
Second try
Although it's not perfect, Flock's Twitter integration has really made it easy to check out Tweets.
Why I'm still a little disappointed.
Where's the innovation in the last 8 months?? Yes, some cool things have come as result of the API, but all in all, I expected more from Twitter. At the very least give me a better way to find friends or organize Tweets.
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