Is Tweeter a tool or an obsession to accumulate?

Like so many people I know, I have been experimenting with Tweeter over the past few weeks in an effort to access it's value to me.

At first I found it a new and exciting tool that allowed me to connect with people throughout the world. I then began reading the tweets to see what value I gained from them and examine ways I might interact and provide value. The traffic is essentially broken into the following categories: thank you for following me; what I'm doing now; what I just finished doing; helpful hints on tweetering; promotion of services; idle conversation with specific followers; and reference to websites and blogs. About one-half the categories seem to be of any benefit to me, however, those categories make up about 20% of the traffic.

I have been able to learn of some helpful websites and potential marketing ideas.

I'll continue this adventure for a while, but it seems many tweeters are simply trying to see if they can accumulate the most followers---a game. Although I'm sure that provides them with a sense of accomplishment, I fail to see the value.

I'm all about learning new things, so that part is fun. I'll give an update in 30 days on its value.