Almost daily people “ask me what the hell is twitter?” Is it totally completely useless? Or do I just not get what Twitter is used for, or how it’s supposed to be used. Usually, my response is something along the lines of “yes Twitter is useless but….”.

I would love to say Twitter is useless yet there are people who can benefit from it’s easy to use quick updating. For example, Lance Armstrong. He’s using it to update 100,000+ fans about his progress in the Tour of California. But what about the average person? Well if you’re someone who likes to let everyone know what you’re doing or thinking about at any given time, you’ll enjoy it. Will you gain anything from it? Probably not monetarily.

I’ve developed the following social networking flow chart to help you figure out which “social networking” chart is most useful for you.

Here are some more general thoughts on the various social networking sites:

• Linkedin – Professional use. Finding new business, stay up to date on developments within your industry.
• Facebook – Friends. Highschool, college, etc. More for personal use.
• Myspace – Friends. Lower income, fewer college educated individuals.
• Twitter – Weird. Simple 140 character or smaller micro updates about you and your day. Who cares what you’re doing right now (which actually isn’t right now if you’re already typing about it). Good for celebrities to update their fan base. For example, Lance Armstrong is updating via Twitter during the Tour of California.

There are a lot more of these sites geared toward very specific interest e.g. action sports. However, the sites listed above are the big hitters.

Feel free to fill up the comments with your feedback. I know there’s a lot of passion surrounding some of these social networking sites.

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