Twitter is useful to me in a few ways - 1. Using Twinkle on my iPhone I can see Tweets from around me within a certain radius. When a major windstorm blew thr

Twitter is useful to me in a few ways - 1. Using Twinkle on my iPhone I can see Tweets from around me within a certain radius. When a major windstorm blew through Cincinnati and 1,000,000 people lost power, I was able to use Twinkle to get updates on where there was and where there was not power in real time. I knew there was power 2 miles away, I knew there was power in certain areas, I knew where to go for a Starbucks. 2. I follow my friends and I can stay up to date with 60 people without much effort. I can reply when I see fit, but not feel bad if I don't reply (which is different than an instant message, where if I don't reply I am an asshole). 3. I have about 800 followers and that continues to grow - if I have a question about something or want a quick opinion I can "ask Twitter" and get about 15-30 responses in less than an hour. 4. Real time search. It is incredible. It helped break the news of the Flight 1549 crash in the Hudson. It shows what popular topics are (it's obvious on an Apple keynote day, but what was going on yesterday? Twitter gives me a really good idea).