Meghan,

Meghan, oh Meghan. I am disappointed. You’ve contributed another eye-rolling, get-a-load-of-this-crazy-thing editorial on Twitter that completely misses the point. But first, what you get right:

Yes, there is a lot of inanity on Twitter. Certainly. Before going any further, I’ll concede that with my head held high and without breaking eye contact in shame. And yes, the Ashton Kutcher phenomenon is pretty much a low point in Twitter’s short history. (I mean, who cares?)

That said, you’ve missed the point and the real efficacy of Twitter. In the second paragraph of your op-ed you ask if any of your first-paragraph tweet-like trivialities were interesting. And you were right, they weren’t. But I don’t know you. You’re a stranger and the minutiae of your life won’t be compelling to me unless you have the sense of humor or wherewithal to tweet the mundane in an amusing way.

In your column, you, as well as so many other opinion-makers who feel required to come down on Twitter one way or the other without actually using it, suppose Twitter is all about narcissism. That it’s all about tweeting what I had for lunch today, or that I hate Mondays. This forgets that a large component of Twitter is following other people, taking an interest in what their friends are doing, what they have to say. Are you suggesting that none of your good friends would have anything interesting so say if, heaven forbid, they became Twits themselves? Twitter isn’t a soapbox, it’s a cocktail party.

By concentrating on the mainstream slant of Twitter, of course it’s going to seem as broadcasty and as meaningless as television or commercial radio. The point of Twitter is every user defines what Twitter is for them. They get to pick and choose their experience. It’s personal, tailorable and completely customized.

On Twitter, I follow people I know in real life and creative people whom I find interesting. (Notice I didn’t say celebrities.) By employing some simple selectiveness, I keep my Twitter meaningful and interesting to me.

Lately I’ve been using Twitter to follow Time Warner Cable’s recent PR failings as they planned to roll-out tiered pricing by sharing with not only other dissatisfied customers, but also complaining straight to the TWC representatives who use Twitter. It’s ever so less a waste of time than calling TWC and waiting on hold to speak to a minimum wage-earning call center drone. There’s a conversation of activism going on (140 characters at a time) between me, TWC’s Director of Digital Communication, Congressman Eric Massa, and someone called TWCsucks, who compiles the angry tweets of TWC customers. Earlier this week, TWC announced they were rescinding their tiered pricing plan and, for me, Twitter made the fight all the easier.

Twitter doesn’t isolate people or erode face-to-face communication, it facilitates it. Think of it as a pre-interview. When I run into Betsy at the Starbucks, “What’s new?” has been replaced with, “I saw on Twitter your art show was a success” or “Congratulations, I saw the pictures of your new house on Twitter” or “So, that band you saw really sucks, live, huh?” We’re caught-up, we’re informed about things that are happening in each other’s lives. Then Betsy says, “Your noisy neighbors still giving you trouble?”

I get tweets straight from authors letting their followers know when they are going to be interviewed on TV and radio, or from scientists sharing new and interesting news and links. Producers of live comedy shows and bar owners tweet me when their lineup changes or when tickets go on sale, or when $2 drink specials go into effect. Useful!

And lastly, if you and most of your Twitter friends are comedians and writers, 140 characters is the perfect length for some really, really funny jokes.

Signed,
@danforthfrance

Maybe you should have turned off device updates. I use TwitterBerry and I only get tweets when I open the application and choose to scroll through them. It’s like you just took a car for a test drive with the parking brake on and then complained about what a shitty car it was.