For ADD types like myself, I microblogged the gist references of this post in the follwoing Tweets:

• Twitter is not a substitute for blogging
• Social media (like Twitter) is helping to evolve blogging
• Twitter reminds me of elevator pitches
• The point of an elevator pitch is to set up hooks to get people to say, tell or show me more
  

@PaulJacobson and I had a little public tête-à-tête on Twitter the other day about the merits and demerits of microblogging. He posted a blog post about it where he raised some valid points.

Upfront, I must confess I don’t (macro) blog much, mainly because:

• I have GenX ADD. I get bored quickly once I’ve “got” the gist of an idea.
• Reading and writing long blog posts (like this one) is like walking through mental mud and irritates me.
• My communication style is more NYC – “say what you have to say quickly, Sonny, and don’t waste my time waffling.”

Instead of blogging, I do a lot of microblogging via Twitter.

The value of Twitter is still under debate. Image Credit: Wiselywoven

In my opinion, Paul's blog post had a huge gap; where he discounted the most important benefits of microblogging and using Twitter. For me, Twitter is a way of:

• Sharing up-to-date, real time information in a convenient and accessible format
• Exploring associations with people and information without taking too much of my time or demanding excessive attention. (If I’m interested in something, I will delve deeper).

Twitter also helps me associate and connect with people with similar interests – without getting into time-consuming email or verbal conversations. That people spam Twitter or use the platform to post rubbish are minor prices to pay for its usefulness. I can also easily unfollow people who do that.

Without a platform like Twitter, connecting with many of my most valuable global knowledge mentors would be inconvenient due to time zones, lifestyles or geographies. So inconvenient – it probably wouldn’t happen much at all.

With Twitter, I get to tap into what these Tweeters are, for example, thinking about, reading etc - albeit at a superficial level. If I am interested in the brief signal they have sent out, I look deeper into any links or get in touch with them via Twitter or email.

I could also go on about my professional interest in Twitter as a “real time search medium” – but that has been spoken about a lot already.

Twitter is like the elevator pitch of social media communication. The goal of the elevator pitch is to elicit the magical words: tell me more. (Or show me more, via a link.) Social media spaces like Twitter also help to improve engagement and linking to macro-blogging formats.

My point is that Twitter (microblogging) is not better or worse than blogging (macroblogging) and should not be discounted. It is still blogging, in a modified and abbreviated form – which caters for our attention-deficit society. It’s a signal sender. It’s not meant to be the whole message provider (like macroblogging is).

Having said that, I do agree with Paul on some of his points:

• I don’t think Twitter is the alpha-and-omega of microblogging or social media.
• Twitter’s fail-whale-prone technology is not the best. 
• Twitter doesn’t understand its own users as much as it could and is downright arrogant in how it approaches their evolving needs. I won’t be surprised if eventually Twitter peeves its user base so much that they migrate to something else or use communication platforms or protocols like Status Net to wean themselves of Twitter, while still retaining their followings and social connections.
• Twitter is a niche tool – which appeals to certain categories of likely users, but not everyone.

My personal opinion is Twitter is a useful signpost on the Yellowbrick Road of social media. It is not the final destination.

When we look back in a few years time, with 20/20 vision - we will see that it was a pre-cursor to something else. We’re still evolving what that ‘something else” will be.

Also check out:

• Twitter Winning Formulas
• A Corporate Crash Course in Twitter
• Friday Fact Box - Teenagers on Twitter