I just came across an article in the New York Times via Michael Faris‘ blog.  The article is discussing the use of twitterTwitter (and less prominently, Tumblr — one account I actually don’t have, mostly because I have this blog).  In the article, the reporter discusses some of the dramatic uses of Twitter: one man threatened suicide and his subscribers called for help; prominent web 2.0 entrepreneurs have fights with their partners and subscribers give advice.

What the article misses is the connectivity.  It’s not all about the drama or the minutiae of life.  It’s about connecting with others who have similar interests or who share information that others may be interested in.  Take, for instance, my interest in photography.  I post links to my photographs.  Other people started subscribing to me. I came to find out that many of them are in Flickr.  Even better, some of them are from my hometown.  Others are in the same field that I’m in and have given me some wonderful feedback on rhetoricians, theory, and have been cheering me on as I finish up my thesis.  Still others have introduced me to new things in other areas of interest: I saw the progression of PodcampAZ; I have talked with GrammarGirl; I stay informed on technology, other students, other photographers, and more.  None of this would happen if I didn’t use Twitter because I wouldn’t ever have gotten to know these people otherwise.

Shelley Powers, who never seems to have positive things to say about this connectivity, but who makes a living off of it, states,

“He has a bummer day, talks about it on Twitter, it’s on Digg and then MetaFilter,” she said in an interview. She calls the entire experience “artificial intimacy” and wonders if people were “concerned about it, or were they titillated.”

People in the social networking world, she said, are in a quest for constant communication. “It began with blogging, then blogging with comments, then instant messaging,” she said. “It keeps getting a higher and higher level of interconnectivity, and it becomes almost addicting.”

And why wouldn’t interconnectivity become addicting?  We are social animals.  We have a need to connect to one another.  Even as a self-avowed hermit, I like to be connected, to feel like I have a place within the social structure of mankind (albeit a removed place, but a place nevertheless).

In a time when people are feeling removed from everything, these tools allow us to feel like we’re a part of something bigger.  They allow us to learn and grow and be a part of something larger than us: the world.