Twitter is the haiku of blogging

According to a USA Today article, there is an art to writing good status updates. I'm talking about 0nes that don't make your friends and followers roll their eyes because you are "on your lunch break" or "watching TV."

What makes a good status update is personality. This is especially true on twitter where personality is what drives people to follow you. A quote from Alison Bailin Batz calls twitter "a medium that rewards interestingness. Her example is to not tell the world you just ate frozen yogurt but that the local shop was giving away free scoops.

Twitter has certainly been easier for me to execute the last few months than blogging. I strive to keep it interesting, and make totally separate updates to facebook from what I put on twitter.

Here are some of my favorite tweets from people I follow just in the last hour:

@reggriffin: Which would concern you most: Your steady showing up on "Cheaters," "Springer," or "The Bachelor/Bachelorette."

By the way, Reg was the most interesting seatmate I've had on a plane and we've since become each other's twitter followers and facebook friends. He gets points on this tweet for pop culture references, which Reg is great at, and for current events (Bachelorette debaucle from Monday's episode).

@mickhagen: Never date a girl with Hulk Hogan arms. http://bit.ly/16Hrwr

Because everybody loves a little photo shop now and again.

@tham: In mathematics you don't understand things. You just get used to them. -- Johann von Neumann

My coworker who manages to find all kinds of fascinating quotes.

@dockane: Marketing folks: Looking for a "green" printer? Here is the FSC certified list: http://tr.im/o3EL

Of course a useful tidbit always wins out. And I'm not just saying that because Stein's printing connections are on this list!!