I am completely with you. It was @MackCollier who made me first sign up, but like you, it wasn’t until I realized the utility of having all this information in one place that it really took hold for me.

When I was working with Yellow Pages guys they would talk about the issue of launching a new phone book as one of “Critical Mass” (chicken and egg really), without the rich content of advertisers, no usage; without usage no advertisers.

Twitter is like that: we who are on and active have found a critical mass of other users who validate the tool’s utility. Until everyone who signs up is able to find enough users like them to validate their usage we’ll continue to see the high dropoff rates.

Will

But I can certainly see why many “average” users tire of it quickly. They simply use it as text messaging, sharing trivial info about their day, not sharing links or any deeper information. Exactly what I assumed it would only be till I actually got on board.

So what will it take for the average web user to delve deeper into the utility that does exist with twitter? Seeing others, that they follow, sharing links and other deeper info will get them into doing more of the same.

Twitter is still essentially in it’s infancy so we’ll see how well it can really penetrate into the mainstream and if it can stick.