If you're curious about Twitter just try it. It doesn't usually bite, and if you end up hating it more than you find it useful you can just leave again. The thing is, it is its own form of communication, which is hard to describe outside of experiencing it oneself. It takes some time to figure out good signal-to-noise strategies, dos and don'ts, as well as whom to follow, but I for one find it very useful for quickly getting ideas of who's up to what, etc. And yes, many type people are on Twitter. Here for instance is Ivo Gabrowitsch's list of type designers on Twitter (231 and counting).

http://www.momthisishowtwitterworks.com/

I follow a couple of foundries/designers on twitter, and I prefer Kristof to Kutcher.

Are you familiar with RSS feeds? I think of twitter as a short-form RSS feed.
It's a convenient tool to receive short interesting updates and news all in one place, instead of visiting a whole bunch of blogs and sites.

What to tweet about? As a designer, I'd say most type/design-related stuff (even brain-farts) can be interesting to me.

For example: One of your posts in another thread would have been a tweet I found interesting/useful:

"One of the most comprehensive collections of information on PDF-related software…— http://www.planetpdf.com/"

As far activity among type designers, my impression is that there is more on Twitter than Facebook.

From a business marketing to consumers perspective, Twitter (or Facebook) is simply a way to allow your customers to interact with you more directly. It also allows you to market directly to people that have explicitly decided to follow you...so you already know they are an interested consumer.

I held off getting into Twitter for a long time. In the end, I begrudgingly joined only to find that I actually kind of enjoy it. It's a relatively easy way to keep up to date on a lot of different subjects and interact with people in a manner that is less intrusive (or time consuming), than an e-mail.

Nick,
I am about your age and even live inside the Beltway, but I do use Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin. So far, it has not cost me a cent so there is nothing to lose but your anonymity. As far as "which is better"? it does not matter, they are a tangled web that encompasses a huge and growing segment of society. There are probably fewer of us geezers out there in Social Media Land than the younger portion of society but even grandparents who like to see messages and images from younger family members are joining the club.

Come on in, the water is fine :-)

“I kinda hate [Twitter]. I think it’s awful. I have Twitter just so I can tell people what I want them to buy, and give me money.”

— Louis C.K.

I should note that I rarely tweet--mostly because I know most people who follow me don't really want to know that I was out for lunch or back from CVS. I have also un-followed some folks who either over tweet their marketing message enough to be über annoying or post things every 3 seconds as in: "I have opened my twitter account."..I have just tweeted"...I have just read the tweet that I tweeted"...Nobody tweeted back a response"...so I retweeted myself"...Nobody tweeted back a response"...so I retweeted myself"...Nobody tweeted back a response"...so I retweeted myself"...etc.

Did you say Boom or Bust?

"Oddly enough, the factory was spared destruction until the very end of the war. During an Allied daylight air raid, as late as April 1945, it was wiped out by over a thousand heavy bombs, whose explosive power was based on Alfred Nobel's own inventions. A bronze bust of Alfred Nobel which was found among the ruins, damaged by bullets but nonetheless upright, was set up in the administration building. During the 1950s, the site was cleared of ruins and used for building the nuclear power plant of Krümmel."

Looks like earphonebest really likes Dr. Dre headphones…

OT: Twitter is a nice way to get info re your interests (eg type) and the latest news. As far as the people you follow are ‘responsible’ (if not you chuck them). FaceBook is awful, meant for selfcentered teens and idiots.
Guess what I use and what I don’t…

>meant for selfcentered teens and idiots.

And thousands of other uses, including keeping in touch with old friends, sharing pictures of grandchildren, and on and on.

My point is that using social media like FB puts you in the shopping window. Everything that is social about the Internet should also be private. FB aint…

But to everyone their own : )

Twitter is, in general, even less private than facebook, as unless you restrict, anyone can "follow" you. You can take steps to wall yourself off in either, but that kind of defeats the concept. I think most adults, at any rate, are pretty circumspect about what they share publicly. But there is a trade-off in less privacy for more contacts. But yes, some people have a distaste for less privacy and others—apparently a lot of others—don't mind.

While not true for everyone, my observations are Facebook is where I learn that people I know are a lot crazier than I had realized when I only knew them in person. Twitter is where I stay up to date on chat business/hobbies/interests.

Re Facebook, that's the only social medium I partake in, and I'm there only because it's my family/clan's default hang-out.

I use Twitter sparingly ... I see Hoefler+Frere-Jones on there. So far I have posted exactly 1 tweet. Facebook is more useful. Like Te, I use it for family mostly.

I am starting a Digital Photography program at my college next fall, and I have been dragged into Social Media because that is how the kids today communicate. Apparently e-mail is for old fogey's.

I'm not sure if font buyers are in that young of a demographic, but they will be eventually.