[downandout]

While I understand Twitter from a technical perspective, I have never understood why a large number of people use it. The value proposition for an average person is effectively zero. It's great for businesses and celebrities, but one-sided value propositions tend to not work out long term. We are now starting to see that inevitable result play out. You can only defy gravity for so long.

[pnathan]

The serious interactive users of twitter typically use it like a threaded IRC channel, with added benefit of being able to search based upon user and hashtags.

I've used it to good effect to watch real-time events like protests and riots.

[ams6110]

While we will never return to the pre-social-media days, perhaps the infatuation had faded. The current generation entering their teens has never really known a time without it. There's no real novelty to it. The distinction between mindless time wasting and real usefulness may be more clear.

[hyperpape]

You read things you like reading.

There's more to be said about why you use Twitter instead of one of the other places you could read things, but the basic "value proposition" is actually simple.