[mhurron]

> I have the impression that for new users it's mostly s feed reader with ads and Foursquare checkins

There's another way to use it? Seriously, I don't get how to use Twitter. If I follow someone, how do I comment on what they said? Does everyone see that? What exactly is Twitter trying to do? I have never 'got' it.

It's looks to me like an IM service crossed with RSS, except I can't figure out how to do any messaging.

(Not that this is really a problem, I have nothing to say and am not social, but it's irritating not understanding something.)

[jmathai]

The rules...

1. Every tweet on public profiles are ... public. Anyone can read them but not all your followers see all your tweets (more later).

2. If your tweet starts with an @mention (as in, the first character of the tweet) then only the user you @mention will see the tweet in their feed (as well as anyone else you @mention in the tweet). It does not display on your followers feeds. That is, unless, you both have mutual followers.

It's a hack and many people don't understand it.

[recursive]

This is exactly my experience with Twitter and I thought I was the only one.

[jeremyjh]

I'm so glad its not just me.