Twitter for Learning

    I used to be a twitter hater. It just seemed like some enormous aggregate of worthless quotes from shallow celebrities and humorous meme-like one-liners from role players.

I couldn't have been more wrong...

    It turns out that, sure, although there exists banality on twitter there are also many valuable resources for gaining information regarding just about anything. Here are some practical aspects of twitter that I have discovered:

1. Twitter can help you recognize trends in software development, by keeping you up to date on the thoughts of the "rockstars" and professionals in the field. Through their comments, and links to recent blogs you can begin to gauge where the field is heading.
2. If you are learning a new technology, or already have an abundance of knowledge, you can follow tip-providing twitter accounts which give practical, to-the-point insight. For example, I follow @vimtips, @RegexTip, @java_tips, @TexTip, @AlgebraFact and more. Each of these has taught me some new tricks for tools that I use nearly every day.
3. Finally, twitter can keep you updated on group activities. The last few months I have gone to local Python and Ruby user group meeting which I heard were happening solely because of twitter.

    Through the last few months of using twitter, I'd really like to say that I have gained some practical knowledge. Do you agree and think that twitter is a useful tool for learning? Perhaps I left out more benefits of twitter? Or is twitter just pure evil? Feel free to share your thoughts.