Shel wrote a great analysis of Twitter and it’s community uses at this years SXSW 2008. More importantly, he discussed the idea of using it as a community building both before and after an event. There were some obvious limitations, but the overall popularity is undeniable.

Twitter was used to meet several long-time friends for the first time. I ran in to several people that we actually recognized each other as twitter friends from our nametags. It was great to meet in person and have common stories and even business to discuss. The additional relationships of meeting friends of Twitter friends at SXSWi and expanding those networks were evident when I came back from SXSW and managed the inbox of new Twitter followers for the next several days after the conference.

People used Twitter to arrange lunch dates, impromptu parties, find an interesting panel when the one they were sitting in was not meeting expectations, and catch up with long time followers.

Twitter received a tremendous amount of traffic this year at SXSW. There were some pretty interesting bets and skeptics on whether it would stutter or even Fail. Yep, it passed. Now, I feel even more confident in my previously expressed interest in how Twitter can be used as a really simple tool in a natural disaster. But I think it’s true value may be in the short, 140 character updates we use to follow friends and colleagues to learn from the web, share knowledge, and create trusted relationships. There is no doubt the transparency of Twitter and the followers comments are a self-monitoring group of educated and opinionated leaders and users. Users? Yes, I said users! But, only in the most loving sense of the word! Now… check out my Twitter page if you like and if you haven’t set up your own account, try it!