I Tweet...Therefore i'm Spammed.

For much of my life i had avoided using a computer in the sure fire knowledge of the ignorant that i was right and the rest of the world was wrong...my eyes were opened to this obvious folly on my part about six years ago when i was sent to a computers-for-idiots-starter-course from work.I saw the light...

Like all late converts i then threw myself zealously into this new exciting world and within a week had bought a laptop for home...

First off i joined Facebook,which is enjoyable but even then i saw the limitations of the format.Namely it's restricted to those you already know in most cases---in saying that though i have found previously unknown distant cousins in The US---I tried Friends Reunited--remember that?----But all the people from my old school that were on there were the very people i avoided so long ago.Why would i want to get back in touch after all this time?

I had heard of Twitter but did'nt really have a Scooby Do as to what it was.A year ago i took the plunge and signed up---Notice all these sites are free by the way? the moment they start charging i'm offski---Once i had worked my way round the ways of Twitter i was smitten.

We have all heard the complaint that Twitter is nothing more than frivolous self absorbed wank,and to a certain extent it is.Many people not on it will say "All Tweeters do is post what they're having for dinner,who cares?" Yes it happens,done it myself.But what they're missing out on is  the rest of the Tweeting world that opens up to them.

I would imagine nearly every Journalist worth their salt is now on Twitter,it's usually the quickest way to get breaking worldwide news.Because of Insomnia i was aware of,via Twitter, the Japanese Tsunami & the death of Bin Laden  about three hours before official news broke.Hardly frivolous...

The whole Arab Spring began in Tunisia through Twitter.A photo of a protester setting fire to himself was posted onto a Twitter account and spread around the World quickly.It became the catalyst for revolution in three countries--with more to follow?---Without Twitter that brave selfless act would have stayed localised and probably nothing more would have happened.It galvanised the youth of Tunisa,Eygpt and Libiya to overthrow despotic rulers.

In Britain it has been a force for good,Most notably when thousands of Tweeters were hooked up for a massive post riots clean up a few months ago.

Yes it can be annoying,getting Spam Tweets and Spam followers is a pain.Sometimes it feels as though you're only hearing one side of a conversation.There are of course some absolute arseholes on there who seem to get a thrill in abusing those celebrities who Tweet.

Talking of which it can also root out the less desirable members of society.Stan Collymore,who's not always an easy man to like,was the subject of some vile racist claptrap from one Tweeter,got the police involved and got the fella charged.Good on him...

I can only see Twitter becoming ever bigger and more crucial to everyday life in the future.If nearly every Government in the World is worried about it's power then we know we're onto something...

Finally where else can a normal Joe like me be party to a wonderfully entertaining row between Victoria Coren and Michael Winner?

Twitter,i salute you...