Remember when there was work without email?
Then there was email, but only at work.
Then there was your personal email and your work email. (Back when editors and writers had spirited discussions about using “E-mail” or “Electronic Mail [E-mail] or “email” in print.)
Then you bought a domain, and had just one email address because it was all getting too confusing.
Then you had a bunch of addresses so you could decide on who had what access depending on which address you gave them. And you forgot about half of them.
Then you got software and you could get all those different email addresses to funnel to one place, where you could then filter them, and … well, it was a lot again.
Then you started testing websites and the number exploded exponentially. Only me? OK, too far….

A lot of people I know use Facebook. Most of them use it obsessively. I thought it was OK, briefly, but all the poking and super poking and ninjas and pirates got boring fast. Plus, my high-school best friend/worst enemy finding me and wanting to chat? Ack! (Brief pause -> Delete message.) I stay on FB because my family likes it. I tried dragging them over to LiveJournal, and they just couldn’t get the hang of it. But FB? Even your brain-damaged cousin can understand it, plus, look, a farm! Shiny and simple wins their vote. And, just as they don’t know about this blog, they don’t hang out in my favorite bar, Twitter. (The bar metaphor came from the awesome Havi [she's @Havi] who also once said, “lowering the bar makes it easier to reach your drink”.  She has a degree in clever metaphors.)

Then when I talk to real-life friends -  those with whom I’ve actually shared a physical drink, or slept on their physical couch, or held their physical hair back while they puked? Most of those don’t do Twitter. Some do, but most do not. They don’t see the need, when they can barely keep up with Facebook (exactly!). Some say that they can’t say what they want in only 140 characters. But that character limit is exactly why I love Twitter.

In the morning, when I have only enough brain to scan the headlines, but no longer receive the newspaper, I go to Twitter. As my tea is steeping, I hit the twits. (OK, yes, I do scan my email inbox in case I may have just won a million dollars, but I don’t really read emails first.)(And yes, I like to call them twits because it amuses me.)
Twitter is small – it offers digestible bits of information that I can tune into without commitment.
It’s not a whole news story or blog post. It’s not making a huge statement that will make my hair clench before I even shower.
It’s wee bites of things that are happening to and for people I know all over the world.
It’s not shouting.
In this era of information overload, it’s a great way to ease into the day. Don’t use it? Don’t try talking to me before my second cuppa tea.

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PS: I use NetNewsWire for reading RSS-enabled blogs – and that comes third in my daily reading. I link to the app here because you might not have tried it and I think it’s fantastic.)