in defense of twitter

a recent question in linkedin questioning the relevance of twitter got this response from me:

Quite frankly I find Twitter to be one of the best communication and knowledge tools available. Where else can you tap into a collective consciousness of many? Both professionally and personally i continue to be astounded as to the benefits that come form this tool. I would update regularly each hour. Less so on the weekend. Using both computer and mobile devices to stay plugged in. Interestingly, your comment about teens keeping in touch may not be that accurate. I have a few nices who are huge facebook users but cannot see the benefits to twitter. In discussions with my fellow "tweeters" the consensus seems to be 23 - 40 year olds are the heaviest users.
Sure it takes some time to get your head around how the twitterverse operates, but personally, and professionally i cannot recommend it enough.