Why are congressmen and the media all of a sudden obsessing over twitter?

[mvpunker07]

I can't help but find this new found obsession of theirs to be very annoying. I hope this fad ends soon.

[david b]

President Obama taught them the value of instant communication with the average American during the campaign so they are all jumping on the bandwagon. They can get their message out without having to go through the biased filter of the media, either conservative or liberal. The trend will last as long as they feel they are connecting.

[xgravity23]

Twitter is a very powerful and cheap way to reach a lot of people instantaneously and in several places. By "in several places," I meant that people can receive Twitter updates on their cell phones, email accounts (if you know how to set that up), and on the Twitter home page itself.

It does seem to be a fad, but this web app that started off as simply "microblogging" has turned out to have many applications, reaching from simple communication to controlling household devices to updating calendars to marketing and the list goes on. I think that Twitter could become as ubiquitous as email one day because it is highly mobile, highly simple, and thus highly adaptable.