Mashable.com’s top story right now discusses why the Obama administration should use Twitter more effectively as a means of mass communication. It cites Twitter Teams used by the Canadian and English prime ministers to keep in non-stop contact with their constituents, and argues that the Obama Team is not nearly at the same level.

I can’t help but wonder… what is the big tweeting deal about Twitter anyway? I have an account and I think I used it exactly 3 times…. all on  the night of the election.  I’ve received several emails telling me “this person is now following you on twitter.”  I’ve got friends who swear by it as a legit form of communication, but I just can’t quite grasp why it is so ultimately central to our 21st century way of life.

Is it absolutely necessary in this 24-hour-news-cycle world, in this overwhelmingly important information age, that everyone at ALL times be able to know within seconds what EVERYONE else is doing?  IS IT??

I’m not positive that it is.  Why do we need up-to-the-millisecond updates on where people are and what they are doing?  Breaking news of some sort may be important to get out right away, but isn’t there like a 100-character limit anyway for each Tweet?  Not any different than when yahoo.com or cnn.com post breaking news stories with just a few details.  And can’t a well-placed text message or blackberry email get the job done just the same?

Maybe it’s just the same part of me that didn’t want to switch over to the new Facebook design when it came out (now I’m a big fan).  Maybe it’s a rage against the Unknown, because I really don’t understand it.  Maybe I’m just slow to hop on the bandwagon that will one day consume us all, but I’m not sold on Twitter.  Not yet.