> Twitter is not exactly a new technology - this is
> basically the same thing as email and SMS.
And yet, it's different: if you could say "SMS everyone in my phone book" or "Email everyone on my contacts" list, then you'd be closer to what it is. Multicast is what sets twitter apart from those that came before. Plus there's the "opt-in" angle: if I make a list of people that I send things to, I control it. Other than blocking people from following me, I don't have as much control: There are people I'd like to follow me, and they won't.
> What I dislike is the information glut that it creates,
> which requires extra time and effort to extract something
> useful out of it.
Well, sure. That's a complaint about a technology? Sounds like a complaint about your own time-management. "After I eat ice cream, I always have to wash my beard!" ... that's a ding against ice cream? Digesting the twittersphere is a skill you can acquire; I'll just note that you don't buy every book published, or join every mailing list launched ...
> It is the same like the supermarket - to get my bread milk
> and eggs I need to run the gantlet through rows of crap that
> is of zero interest to me.
If that's what you use a supermarket for, then okay. But you have to admit that it's only your use of it that presents any kind of negative issue. I go to markets sometimes to look for new things. Maybe you have everything you want. Maybe you don't want anything new. That's okay. But I found something great the other day just by browsing the aisles. It was time well spent, for me.
> For that reason I dislike supermarkets too.
We get it, we get it.
/jordan