Totally agree with you 100%. I find this applies with equal weight to people who've never used the iPhone and bash it to their hearts content.

Although those people who've posted comments have a right to their opinion. Their insights are totally biased and misguided. It's along the lines of tearing down anything they don't understand or is a success.

Twitter has been a welcomed service into my life and will continue to stay. Take special note that none of my close friends use Twitter. All of the friends that I follow are new to my life. These people that I've met are truly amazing and wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for Twitter.

To top it off Twitter is a very powerful networking tool that has actually made me money and meet like minded people in business that I would have never had a chance to met otherwise.

Now that I've written a novel I'll end it here. Point is pretty clear, Twitter is an amazing service that is hear to stay. I suggest that you try the site out and give it a chance before you start bashing it.

Jenn - I agree with your basic tenet - people who don't understand something shouldn't make fun of those who use it. That said, this is all part of being an early adopter. As Geoffrey Moore has written about, early adopters are tinkerers - we love to play with new stuff before others have figured out the value. Then, once it becomes mainstream, we lose interest. I can remember watching someone telnet in to the internet and fire up mosaic back around 1993-94 and connecting to a website. I thought it was the coolest thing in the world, but there were very few websites at the time and it would be 3-4 years before most people would see the value. The other challenge to keep in mind is network effect. If no one you know is on Twitter or FF, then it has little or no value. My wife, who is in reinsurance, doesn't get it, nor do any of my non-tech friends. Nor does my 17 year-old niece. They understand email and texting, because that's what they and their friends use. And, if I put them into my Friendfeed account, they'd just see a bunch of techies talking mostly about Friendfeed and Twitter itself (and maybe the Dark Knight if it were this weekend). They wouldn't see anything relevant to their lives.
The opportunity for all of us is to identify ways to leverage these new platforms in ways that make things relevant to the mainstream user. Then, we need to not talk about the platform, but talk about the app that solves their problem. So, if there were a great twitter-based meetup app, we could talk about the meetup app, not the platform that enables it.
So, don't take the comments personally. We just need to build great apps and package them for the mainstream. But next time, tell the UT photog to at least include your face in the shot, not just your shoulder :)

@graubart Thanks for your detailed comment. I don't take the comments personally at all, and most of the time in face to face situations I take the "twitter is stupid" remark as an opportunity to talk about why Twitter is more than just an opportunity to tell the world what you're doing.

I totally agree with most of your points, and I'm very aware of why Twitter doesn't make sense to people, which is why some of my other blog posts go into detail as to why Twitter/FriendFeed are powerful tools. I also spend alot of time trying to connect the local San Diego Twitter community, which is an incredibly rewarding experience and has taught me a lot and opened my eyes to things I may have never considered before.

On Twitter, I have had quick conversations with tech industry big shots like Robert Scoble and Steve Gillmor. I hesitate to even say that because it sounds like name dropping but it is true. And the fact is, I would have NEVER talked to these guys in any other medium than Twitter. I don't run in their circle of insiders so email or blog comments from little ol' me would go unnoticed.

The funny thing about Twitter is that is is so easy use that it is also easy to miss its value.