Interesting research project done here in Korea at KAIST. I first read about it here (http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/guest/25128/?a=f).

Essentially, the findings suggest that Twitter is efficient as spreading news, but not very good at promoting reciprocal relationships.

I’m not sure that I agree. I have formed some relationships in Twitter, mostly local people. We exchange information in Twitter and I have even met with quite a few in the real world. I find it is a much better medium to develop new relationships than Facebook. Facebook is for the existing network and Twitter for the expanding network.

Regardless, the findings are interesting and do reflect one way that I use Twitter these days. I use it as a mega-aggregator. I no longer use Google Reader or News, and I no longer make my daily visits to CNN or other news sites. Twitter is my new recommendation engine for information. I follow 850 individuals, businesses, and news sites. I use TweetDeck to break out the different groups/lists that I’m interested in: Korean local, News, Students, and miscellaneous hash tags.

Whether this is only a fad or the future, it is a fascinating technology and culture that has grown around the technology.