I, for one, don’t feel a compelling need to use Twitter but it already has gone in some interesting directions, such as providing real time data on unfolding events (Mumbai Attacks for example) Although, it is debatable how much relevant information was being micro-blogged, see Alexander Wolfe’s article. His opening line is poignant, “Never before has a crisis unleashed so much raw data — and so little interpretation.” For many, twitter is just one more distracting information feed in a sea of social media platforms; its value debatable. Fortunately all this raw data with little interpretation creates opportunities. A former colleague of mine, Demian Crumb, is doing some interesting stuff with data collection with Twitter. You can follow his efforts on Twitter, fittingly enough. 

Dan Hall