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A couple months ago, I posted an article about my (primarily negative) experiences with Twitter. Since signing up I’ve given the service a second look to why this initially shallow social networking service is the phenomenon it has become.

Since their introduction, social networking websites have met and transcended their original purpose of connecting people through the medium of the internet and have become a viable means of mass communication.

Services such as Twitter can seem unnecessary, filling the function of indulging spontaneous tedium such as Facebook’s “How Well Do You Know Me?” quizzes and “Which Champaign Bar Should You Drink At?” surveys. Though admittedly fun, they only serve as a superficial use of the platform of the social networking sites.

Twitter’s popularity is due in part to its emergence as a premiere source for the instantaneous broadcast of information. It stands on the precipice now where mindless pastime ends and social relevance begins. An example: a couple years ago a magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck Chengdu and buried thousands. The first on-scene accounts were provided by Twitter users. The 144-character limit on tweets benefits these lightning fast updates, ensuring a prompt post with only the most basic and crucial information.

Beyond these applications, people are also discovering that Twitter is capable to tapping into the collective resource pool of experience and intelligence that the internet community can provide. Try asking a question or suggesting an opinion poll on a tweet or a Facebook status update. It’s more likely than not that friends and followers will volunteer you the information if they have it.

The Toronto Star examined the phenomenon in an article recently which also pondered Twitter’s relevance and success. Author Murray White suggested that “if you start to think of Twitter as the embodiment of the original idealism surrounding the Internet itself – all of us part of a real-time, unmediated, globe-spanning conversation, with everyone a personal 24-hour news service – then the possibilities seem vast indeed.”

As a technology and communication platform social networking sites are still very much in their infancy, but strides have been made to thrust them to the forefront of online interaction. Not long ago, Facebook integrated an instant messaging service into the structure of their site, and it can only be expected that more services, such as voice and video chat, will function to personalize communication across the network even further.