what is the twitter exactly is, and why this is so popular

For businesses, I think Twitter is great. I follow a few amusement parks on Twitter myself, just so that I am kept up to date on what they're doing. (Holiday World does a great job with this.) However, the fact that Twitter has become popular among the masses bothers me to no end. In the beginning there were blogs. Niche blogs were great because they were like specialized magazines. If I needed some home improvement advice, I might go to a blog that offered such advice on a regular basis. It allowed the blog writers to get themselves on the Net without needing an understanding of HTML code. This, like everything else, slowly trickled down and caught on. Everyone wanted to do it, but nobody had the time. It is my belief that this is where Twitter came from. The desire to "microblog". Microblogging isn't really a bad thing, but it's people who abuse Twitter by posting meaningless drivel that give Twitter both a positive and negative image. I honestly don't care what celebrities are doing, and I could care less what my friends are doing when I'm not around. But with all the celebrity tabloids out there, it's no wonder Twitter is popular. In short, Twitter is only as good or bad as you make it. If you like following companies or celebrities or your friends, than Twitter is probably the greatest invention in the world. For the rest of us, it's a monster sucking the life out of the Net.

Twitter is basically the new age way of keeping tabs on people...if they're actively posting updates. For businesses, it's a way to create buzz and get publicity. I know some businesses have even had Twitter giveaways! My sister and sister-in-law both twitter along with a friend of mine. There are times they will post news stories or pictures that I wouldn't see if I wasn't following their updates. Lots of people like it, so it's popular!