Trevin Chow

I’ll be the first to admit that I questioned the hype about Twitter when it first launched, and was vehemently opposed to those infamous 140 character updates.  However, fast forward nearly a year and I’ve seen the benefits of micro-blogging to stay up to speed on the latest tech trends, what’s going on with my friends and even as an engagement point with customers for Microsoft Store.  It’s also very freeing to be able to write “micro-thoughts” without committing to a full blog post.

In addition to posting tweets multiple times a day on my personal account, I just started up a separate Twitter account for Microsoft Store.  It’s a good way to follow Microsoft Store news minus my personal ramblings on my real account.

I’ll try not to take it as a personal blow to my ego if you choose to only follow Microsoft Store, but we can mitigate the risk of that by just following us both

Microsoft Store at http://www.twitter.com/microsoftstore.

Me at http://www.twitter.com/trevin.

Twitter launched over a year ago and has over 50,000 subscribers. I’ve signed up, tried it and discarded it along with dozens of other “web 2.0″ ideas that have sprung up in the last few years. To me, it didn’t provide any value that I didn’t already derive from IM, email, SMS and Dodgeball. I don’t have many connections on Dodgeball, but continue to check in on a semi-frquent basis because it has proved useful to know where hot spots for the night are.

Twitter on the other hand, is not only used for communicating your location, but all aspects of your life. People are broadcasting messages about their lunch, their mood and maybe even what they’re wearing today. If you’re like me, you’d find this annoying pretty fast. With Dodgeball, sometimes the flood of messages are too much those times I decide to stay in. I can’t even imagine adding an influx of updates from people telling me they’re eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

For some reason, Twitter just won’t go away. It’s being covered by tons of blogs, made a splash at SXSW this year and is gaining more public attention from the likes of Business Week and the Wall Street Journal. It’s even getting continual coverage by well-known bloggers like Scoble and Leo Laporte. I consider myself in touch with the pulse of tech trends and have a good track record predicting the ultimate success of new startups, but in this case, I must be out to lunch. I’m left here empty handed and asking myself “Why the hype?”.

Any of you tried Twitter? Still using it? Find it annoying? Useful? Do tell, cuz I’d sure like to know what I’m missing.