Tipping Point for Twitter?

Twitter seems to be having a tipping point. Or maybe I'm just noticing the discussion since I finally joined myself. I've been seeing twitter discussions on LinkedIn, Seth Godins blog (building trust), Shel Israel's (interview with Laura Fitton), Danny Sullivan's (top lists), Jesse Stay's (changing the world), Robert Scoble's (business twittering) and more. Everyone is talking about twitter and if you follow the links to the blogs mentioned, you're going to learn a lot about how you can make the most of twitter.

One of the reasons I have been reluctant to join twitter is because I've heard it's a time thief. People get hooked on twitter and twit their lives away. Well, I seem to have become quite hooked myself. In those ten days since I joined I've updated twitter 123 times, follow 76 twitters and am being followed by 48. And those include some well known people within social media and even Barack Obama. It's nice for the ego to see people like Obama listed as my follower, even though I know it's automatic when I follow him. Silly, I know. But following great minds is a good habit. On twitter you can see what those great minds are thinking and doing. Twitter is more about listening than babbling (which is why I have only have 124 posts) and I have learned a lot in those few days since I signed up.

Twitter isn't going to change the world for me (I think), but it does take conversations to a whole new level from blogging and is a great opportunity to get to know people better and allow them to get to know you better. It's an excellent tool to strengthen relationships and build trust.

If you only have time to read one of the posts linked to above, I recommend Shel Israel's interview with @pistachio (Laura Fitton). It's really great.

Cheers
Hjörtur
(Click here to follow me on twitter)

Added April 14th:
The buzz goes on with loads of articles I've come across since I wrote this post two days ago. Either it's really the talk these days, or I just read to much. There is one article in particular that I would like to point out to you, a case study of how corporations use Twitter by Daniel Riveong

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Comments

[Jesse Stay]

Wow - what great company to be in! Thanks for the great article.

[Hjörtur Smárason]

You must BE great company, Jesse :)

[Doug McCaughan]

I think you'd enjoy Are you in The Converation?[http://realityme.net/2007/12/11/are-you-in-the-converation/] but more apropos to you your post is Put @RedCross in your Twitter [http://realityme.net/2007/10/26/put-redcross-in-your-twitter/]. The American Red Cross was an early adopter to Twitter and the first organization I witnessed to use Twitter as a utility. They use Twitter to allow people to add themselves to the Safe and Well database which lets friends and family of disaster victims know where you have landed and that you are safe. Very innovative!

[Hjörtur Smárason]

Thanks for the links, Doug. The way you describe how the Red Cross uses Twitter is very smart. That's just in line with what Jesse was talking about in his article, 5 ways to save the world. One of the thing he mentions is how twitter could be used to send out an amber alert.