Richard, I think you made some really interesting points here about Twitter. I know I used it when it first started, and then really slowed down with it. I have started using it again a lot more because of 3 reasons--I have a BlackBerry and started using TwitterBerry, since it makes it easier to Tweet while on the run. Secondly, I find myself more open to sharing things in my day as my own public reflective practice (like autoethnographic and narrative studies). Thirdly, I recently switched my blog from MovableType to WordPress, and use Twitter Tools--this allows me to have my daily Twitter feeds get automatically added to my blog (so I do not lose my thoughts if Twitter decides it wants to become a walled garden).

My biggest challenge is to figure a good way to skim the vast quantity of feeds (information overload) and get to the content (however I or you or anybody else defines it). As a student of media, you must face this as well!