Mike Butcher thinks that Twitter is moving away from a status update tool and becoming more of a conversation starter.

I think I agree with him at the moment, but I'm not sure how I'm going to end up using Twitter longer term.

When I first started with it I did use it as a status update thing (once I got over the "why bother" hump). I tweeted when I was waiting for a bus or cleaning my teeth. I used it in the same way I treat the status box in Windows Live Messenger - to share some information about what I'm doing now (usually what song I'm listening to) with my contacts.

Then I started to discover the value as a conversational tool - less immediate (but often more pervasive) than IM but at the same time more robust, especially when you didn't need the relative overkill of email for a one-liner.

I've also noticed that the one line venting has reduced the number of blog posts I have written - there's something about the 140 character vent that often takes away the need for a full blown post.

Tweets are not like ephemeral IMs or status updates in WLM - they have a timeline and permanence which changes the nature somewhat.

I don't think Twitter is 100% there yet though. For my needs Direct Messages are not handled elegantly enough - I'd like a "Whisper" mode where I can send a private tweet to one (or more) people that appears in their timeline if they're viewing it (authenticated) but not in public view (perhaps ~offbeatmammal to whisper, like we have @offbeatmammal for a public reply or # for hashtags to collate tweets on a subject).

I think Twitter has changed the way a lot of people communicate - mostly for the better. There are some who are a lot of noise to signal but you get that in any communications channel. Some I like having the conversation with (and watching their conversations unfold), others I value the status updates.

I wonder what's next for communications...