I avoided Twitter for a long time because I’m long-winded. “144 Characters? How on Earth could I get my point across?!?” I like to set the context for what I’m talking about and make my points clear.
When everyone gets to do that, though, the result is a lot of stuff to sift through–like the entire rest of the Internet. This blog, for example, is some obscure, long-winded fringe colony. Few visit, and those who do don’t take the time to read it. Hell, I wouldn’t.
By limiting the complete freedom of speech to 144 characters, though, everyone gets that much time to get their point across. Even if they break their post into pieces, they still have to make a conscious decision to do so. It’s a lot of work to string together one of those multi-posts.
The end result is increased access. Because a lot of noise is stripped down, it allows for one to sift through what’s interesting quickly and get to the point. It also cuts down on the influence of noisier individuals and allows better access to people who get large streams of stuff sent to them regularly, like celebrities. Folks with whom I’d never have had a chance to interact might get to see–because they have less to sift through–some clever shit I came up with.
Of course, you can’t get every point across on such a short-winded platform, but you’re not supposed to. That’s what other platforms are for, like this one. As for a public forum that provides access to those who would otherwise be out of reach, Twitter is amazing.