Why Twitter?

Leaving aside the business aspects of @Twitter, how about explaining it to non-users?
Not long ago on my feed I asked my followers how they explained to people why they used it. Because you know, you still have to explain. I know many of the people who are fortunate enough to work on a team in social media or online marketing don't have this problem, because they see and speak to people every day who understand. It's their job. They have an excuse.

For the rest of us, no such luck. Articulating the basic value of Twitter is so challenging, forget describing my follow philosophy or why things like @klout will probably be important in the future. For those who have yet to adopt Twitter, no argument or description seems to sway them. I sometimes passionately describe the many current and potential benefits of Twitter to someone, only to have them look at me vacantly and say, "...yeah but I don't know why I need to leave Facebook for that." This prompted me to tweet "Facebook is the gated community where I keep all of my Twitter illiterate friends."

It feels like that. Every day I get news hours, sometimes days, before anyone else I know. Long before traditional media outlets. Why bother with CNN when you can follow feeds on Twitter while they are sourcing the material from photogs and on the ground reporters? No editing, no punditry...bliss. I describe Twitter as the world's best living magazine or newspaper where you are the editor in chief. It's great to have followers, but if you are a consumer of information, Twitter is heaven.

My ratio is always off, because I will read and interact with those I follow and with anyone who follows me, so I am careful to limit who does. It seems backward right? Conventional wisdom says I should be doing the opposite, spreading my message, trumpeting it to the world, attracting hundreds if not thousands of followers. I have things to say. I say them all day long in response to what I read. I give feedback, elevate valuable content, make connections between all that I see and share my conclusions. I have a viewpoint and a love for people and their stories. Twitter would be less for me if I could not enjoy the back and forth of conversation and quips. The instant friendships over topics that live completely in the mind. But the minute it becomes a monologue, it's lost any appeal. I don't want to pontificate, shill, or be a one liner girl. Though I confess I follow several people who are quite adept at popping out the one liners and I admire their talent. I'm just not that funny. I have a wry wit, but I'm a little too earnest for it to ever work for me.

About a year ago I taught a group of women returning to college how to use the Internet to be more successful students. This was 101 stuff for me. How to search effectively, how to protect your privacy on Facebook, how to set up and manage a group page, or run a blog. I finished my presentation with "Why Twitter?" I was already a serious advocate and no one was buying in Roanoke, Virginia. I teased them with comedy feeds, God and AlmightyGod, (Satan has few followers and is kinda boring), the Mars rover, celebrities, news, the cows on Twitter, the haiku account, every glitzy gimicky thing I could think of to see if I could register any interest. I showed them how whatever their research topic they could find an expert writing about it real time and follow them. I finished with what I think is the killer app of Twitter. That's the search and trending topics functionality. I demonstrated how it could be used to zero in on hotspots when something was happening in the world. How you could immediately start reading the words of people at the scene or those who were experiencing a cultural event. Finally, it started to connect.

So when people ask me now about Twitter, I skip all  the light razzmatazz and go straight to the point. I just tell them it's about the ability of almost everyone on the planet to be instantly connected in conversation. A kind of global consciousness. My twitter feed knows no nation. I talk about how it helped Egypt start a revolution. I talk about the rapid response to Libya and how the on the ground commentary and images streaming from twitter played a role in that. I point out that it is in its infancy and it's already had this kind of effect. Imagine what will happen as more and more people begin to embrace it. I've seen this before. People say they won't ever, and then 2 years later the adoption rate is through the roof. Email, the web, Facebook...I heard the same things from people all along the way, so forgive me if I don't believe them. I know the feeling of something that can cause a fundamental shift and Twitter is one of those things.

Even so, as I told the followers who queried me in return...most people eyes glaze over before I finish.
Ah well. One day.

How do you explain to people why you like @Twitter or why you think it's important?