New York Times reporter Claire Cain Miller explains five of the most popular uses of Twitter:
At its best, the social medium is a perpetual, personalized news service about topics of your choosing — whether health care reform, tech news or the latest episode of “Gossip Girl” — filtered and served to you by people who care a lot about what you care a lot about.
The other examples – a place to ask questions, organize the people you follow by topical lists, monitor the output of conferences, and get local updates, like a bridge closing or traffic delay – burst the tired stereotype of Twitter as a TMI-laden place to tell everyone the most mundane details of your daily life.