Hi Signalcalc,
Aha, Twitter! Never never written one, never read one. My loss, clearly!
It's a great research tool, I have a newsreader that hoovers the twits of the tw*ts I'm interested in, scanning through is pretty quick, just like reading a newspaper or watching the news, but tailored for my own interests and its free
I never post anything, just read what others are saying.
I'm careful not to make it too much of an echo chamber though and have a balanced approach and read opposing views. Good for political commentary and for real time updates on news items that are unfolding as well as non-political items, pick a subject, the world is your lobster.
I didn't 'find' it until August this year, for 10 years I dismissed it as useless, thinking it only useful for the next generation, a bit like the rise of Facebook, I resisted that, then it became kind of useful, but FB has fallen from its perch and is relegated to family & friends stuff, whereas Twitter is different, give it a try.
When it becomes too controlled it will fall from its perch and everyone will move onto the next thing, but Twitter is well established for now. Of course you also have to try and ascertain that Twitter posters are genuine, there are many parody and false accounts, but they are as easy to spot as malicious email.
In one of Donald Trump's tweets recently he stated, paraphrased: "Twitter allows me to get a message out when the MSM will not report or will bias reports against me", it's the only tool available to him other than official Whitehouse reports that couldn't be falsified.
It's a new news world we live in.