To Tweet or Not to Tweet?

Need opinions.

My first interaction with the current phenomenon, Twitter, was when I read of the story involving my company, FedEx, and the infamous Twitter post which insulted our fair city of Memphis. (If you’re interested in the full story, see link here for full details.)

My initial reaction/comprehension of the online behemoth that is currently eclipsing the social networking scene/craze was that it seemed a little silly. Why do I need another site to post a “status” ? And who really cares what I am doing or thinking every single second?

Good friend and fellow Mac user, Robert, explained to me that the concept was created as sort of a niche-information site. Like you could “follow” the “tweets” of fellow Mac geniuses and one could put a call-out “does anyone know how to fix ____ or ____” and all the people who “follow” you would be specialized enough in your field to immediately send you an answer. Sort of like an internet mass-text.

So how did this site transcend to include my favorite morning radio show Drake and Zeke or even Memphis Daily News writers and the dadgum President of the United States? All of the design blogs I read now have Twitter pages. Jesse told me she follows John Mayer and has found several of his tweets to be very entertaining.

Skeptical at first, I now admit that I am intrigued. I want to join. At this point, however, it’s not so that others will “follow” my tweets, or read my entries. Rather, I seem to come across daily different blog/radio personalities who have a Twitter page, and I want to follow them.

Do you get emails with updates or what? How does this work? Does it only make sense to be on Twitter if you have an iphone (i do not)? Can I be on Twitter and not actually “tweet” myself? Am I a total sell-out for being intrigued to join?

Opinions please.

update: still haven't joined twitter as of 12-23-09