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Over 3 weeks ago, my 'week of Twitter' began and I promised a follow-up. That means this post is more than 2 weeks overdue - oops!

So Twitter... Twitter has proved itself at times to be equally useful and annoying; depending on how you want to use it. While online 'social networking' has never appealed to me, I do find myself not wanting to end my Twitter 'week'. I guess I'm hooked!

A quick side note - I cant stand the use of Twitter being called 'Tweeting' or sending 'Tweets' - I call it 'Twitting' or sending 'Twits'. I feel this gives it the appropriate connotation while keeping it product specific.

Here are some specific pros and cons that I have found:

Text Messaging. We all know that email is no longer the instant way to communicate. Text Messaging on a cell phone is the equivalent of IM'ing on a computer and odds are that you spend more time with your cell phone each day than you do with your computer. While reliability is an issue (you dont always get your text Twits), Twitter has done a great job of giving you control of your Twits instantly via Text Messaging. Turning text updates globally off and on is fast and painless (simply send a Text of 'off' or 'on'). Also having the granular ability of choosing whos Twits will send you a Text help keep the annoyance factor low.

Wide use and useful adoption. While a lot of Twitter users are typical 'I need as many online friends as possible to be cool' people, many are not. I have been very surprised and pleased to see that there are plenty of legitimate users and uses! For example, about 25% of my Twitter Friends are News and Blog entities. As a big user of RSS Feeds & Google Reader I love to absorb news as it comes out. CNet News, My Fox Tampa Bay, Bay News 9, and TV on Your PC are all good examples of sites that I have configured to instantly text me.

Limited Support. I have had several issues with the service and have yet to have any of my Support tickets answered. Considering its a free service, theres little complaining that I can do but it doesn't change the fact that its annoying. I would prefer that I not even be able to open a Support ticket - at least then I wouldnt have the expectation that someone will get back to me.

3rd party integration. This is my favorite bullet! If you use Twitter then you know there are hundreds of third party websites, computer applications, and cell phone applications out there to improve your Twitting abilities. TwitPic for example allows you to post pictures with your Twit (which Twitter doesnt natively do). TwitterMail is a website that will give you a Twitter email address (which Twitter doesn't natively do) to which you can email in your Twit's. I love TwitterMail because I email in most of my Blogger posts. With TwitterMail I simply email both my Blog and my Twit addresses and viola - I can post to two sites simultaneously! Twitter has made it so that any programmer, from novice to expert, can build a Twitter application - therefore expanding its use and footprint. The best part? Because of this you do not need to sign up for a separate account for each of these sites! Since the API (application programming interface) ties directly into Twitter all you need is your Twitter username and password. Oh man I love single sign-on!

In the end, Twitter is a keeper. I'm glad that I chose to give it a test run and I encourage you to do so as well. If you already have a Twitter account, I hope that you have found the right balance for its use. It certainly has its purpose - well beyond counting the number of online friends you have. Ku-dos Twitter. Ku-dos.