To Tweet Or Not To Tweet...

So, Twitter has gone mainstream.

This morning, 'DJ' and professional bollocks talker Chris Moyles rattled on about it for an hour, joined by the man responsible for killing the last mainstream music show on TV, Andi Peters, and then Phillip Schofield - and all of them seemed to completely miss the point of the site. Now, however, their respective accounts have accumulated several thousand new followers as they all rush to their computers to sign up. Nothing to match Stephen Fry's 100,000+ followers, mind, but he is a National Treasure. And, you know, he does actually have interesting things to say.

Like every other social networking site out there in the big wide world, I'm over Twitter. I realise that it can provide a valuable marketing and promotion tool, and it's a completely unique way of communicating with people around the globe, but now it's becoming more and more popular, it's going to be Yet Another Social Networking Site, where all anyone is interested in is following celebrities and looking at pictures of attractive nobodies - and let's face it, that's all anyone does with Facebook.

It'll be the in-thing for celebs now, where they can share the most intimate (and carefully screened) moments of their lives; Heat magazine will become completely irrelevant as more and more people follow Kerry Katona's Tweets rather than go to the newsagents; we'll be able to see Paris Hilton banging on about whatever thoughts occupy her mind at any given moment; we'll finally be able to discover what David Beckham really thinks about Celebrity Big Brother... Until the bubble bursts, and thousands upon thousands of Twitter accounts are left as the interest dies, and people leave it alone, desperate for the next Big Thing to become mainstream.

This post sounds a lot more cynical than I intended it to be, but it's just the way I feel about this. Twitter is unique and I enjoy using it (even though I have nothing to Tweet about); it was a pleasant surprise to see a lot early adopters - especially the news services, such as the BBC and CNN - but now... Well, think of it like a new band that you've discovered. For a precious little time, that band is yours and yours alone; it's your little secret that you try and share with people, but no one will have any of it, until the band goes overground and have big chart hits, and then all the people who wouldn't give them the time of day suddenly like them. That's how I see the current surge in Twitter's popularity. The UK has found it's new toy to keep itself entertained for a few weeks.

Until the novelty wears off.