Twitter: what the heck is it for anyway?

I don't know how I got talked into Twittering, but I did. At first, I used it for telling people what I was doing. That got old in a hurry and made me think: "Seriously, does anyone give two [insert expletive here] that I'm about to make coffee? Or that I'm going to do anything else for that matter?" I hardly cared that I was making coffee, why would anyone else?

Then, I twittered what I was reading. That kind of got lame, too, since I haven't had much time for reading and found that I was twittering the same book over and over.

Finally, I actually found something that I could get into, enjoy and share: vocabulary. I have posted vocabulary blogs in the past, but those are just a little strange. When I microblog vocabulary, I have to type them out, copy their definitions and then share them. All of those things help me learn the word better than just looking at it. I also note from which book I pulled the words from, keeping a log of when I'm reading what. This idea came from this post called Hot Trend: Microblogging on Twitter.

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OK, so microblogging sounds like another silly waste of time and I've been TRYING to talk myself into giving up Twitter, but there is something about it that I believe in. Even though I found Twitter useful for a practical purpose of my own, I still want to know what other people use it for. I was surprised to find that there are plenty of ways to put Twitter to work.

• Emergencies. I was quite surprised to find that people were "tweeting" during emergencies, but it makes sense. It's quick, easy and allows a person to get to the point quickly. The author of the article Turning to Twitter after China quake had first heard about the quake through Twitter. In another instance, Twitter was used as a support tool for students who were involved in a lockdown at their school. Read the Chronicle of Higher Education's article called, 'Twittering' During a Campus Lockdown.
• Librarian questions. I've heard that if you have a lot of librarians in your 'Followers' list, you can ask a quick question and get an answer in a pinch.
• Wayne State Events. This is definitely the coolest thing and I wish that more universities would follow suit. Anyway, when Wayne State tweets, it informs me that there are events happening, like Bob Woodward or Amy Goodman coming to campus. Very, very cool.

What else do people Twitter for? If you know, let me know.