As popular is it is to use Twitter, it seems like it's just as popular to hate it and mock it's users, or at the very least ignore it. One of the more common complaints seems to be that people "don't want to hear every mundane detail about someone else's life". There's a couple reasons why this line of thinking is not always true, and quite a few reasons why Twitter can be used for more than just "mundane details".
For anyone who thinks Twitter is stupid, pointless, and boring, ask yourself the following questions: Have you ever...
...put up away messages in AIM saying what you were doing?
...put links, quotes, or random thoughts in your AIM profile?
...read the away messages of your buddies on AIM to see what they were up to?
...clicked on links from buddy profiles on AIM to see what it was?
...changed your status message on Google Talk?
...used RSS feeds to get up-to-date information?
...browsed the headlines of a newspaper or news website?
...changed your Facebook status message?
...browsed through your friend feed on Facebook to see what your friends were doing on Facebook?
...written a blog?
...read a blog?
...emailed a list of people with a link you wanted them to see?
If you answered "yes" to any of the above questions (or especially multiple questions), then you can utilize Twitter to do the exact same thing. Even if Twitter was just about telling people minor details about your life, it would be a handy tool.
I believe that people want to hear minor details from friends throughout the day, which is why AIM away messages and Facebook status updates were used so often. Obviously, seeing tweets every 2 minutes with things like "dinner", "sleep", "getting a soda", and "bathroom" (although this can be funny) can get annoying. The best part is, you can stop following people if they get annoying.
Other than people who tweet to death, most small details from friends are fun to read. Plus, it's a great way to share links, news, and opinions with others. Also, I use twitter to get updates from famous people and organizations that are interesting to me, such as Major Nelson, Kevin Rose, ESPN, the Minnesota Vikings, Woot, Rainn Wilson, and XKCD, among others.
One thing I have noticed in regards to social networks and other multi-user applications is that they make more sense and are more useful if people you know are using it. For instance, I never used ICQ, MSN Messenger, or Yahoo Messenger during middle school, high school, and college, but used AOL Instant Messenger instead. This was because all of my friends and social circles were using AIM instead of the other services, so it made sense for me to be on there. While I was thinking "why would anyone use MSN or Yahoo?", I'm sure there were other people thinking "why would I use AIM?". In the same way, I was a Facebook user, while others were heavy users of MySpace.
This doesn't make any one service better than others, but rather shows how social influences can provide value to one service over another. Some people will feel like Twitter is a complete waste of time, while Facebook status messages are a great tool. I'm sure there are quite a few folks who think Facebook doesn't have much use and that Twitter is a great application. So if you're hating on Twitter, my suggestion would be to sign up and try it out, then get your friends to join so it can provide more value to you.
