Twittermania is hitting the nation, or should I say, the World Wide Web, by storm.

Twitter can be a very powerful communication tool when used with care and discretion. But if we are not careful, it could transform us into mindless micro-blogging robots.

While I think there is value to an active tweet following, I think there are major problems to the rapidly growing twitter phenomenon.

If you don’t already know, first let me tell you what Twitter is. It is a free, social networking service that allows people to send and read other people’s updates, known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters — the maximum in most cell phones — which are displayed on a profile Web page and delivered to other people who have subscribed to them (known as followers).

In other words, you can update all your tweet followers through a text message on your phone or e-mail on your computer. Instead of texting just one person, you are texting a world-wide network of people — potentially. The service has caught on everywhere, especially in politics and with the media. For example, John McCain has nearly 400,000 tweet followers. Twitter allows politicians to reach out to the younger generation who has shown little interest in the country’s politics and current events. The media is using Twitter to supply up-to-the-second updates to its readers and links to larger stories.

This is all great, but at the same time Twitter is causing an information overload. On the surface, Twitter seems like a great tool, but it’s quickly turning into the main focus. Are we that much of an attention-deficit-disorder society where we look to get our news and politics through a 140-character-or-less text message? Is there a point when we become saturated with information?

Does anyone else see a problem with this? I read about a live conference where the audience could only ask questions of the presenter via Twitter. So instead of a handshake or greeting people with a smile, we can send them a 🙂 or 😉 through our e-mail or cell phone.

At the rate we are going, we won’t even have to talk to each other. Instead of friends, we will have followers.

Twitter is a great tool to find out if your bus is on time or to get traffic alerts and storm watches. And from a media point of view, it’s great for breaking news and real-time updates. If valuable information is being posted, that’s great. By posting relevant information, the professional network widens and becomes meaningful.

But what McCain is having for lunch or what kind of car Brad Pitt is driving today, has no relevance to me. Those are just mindless statements being tossed into Twitter-land with no research or background information needed.

Communication is about information flowing between people. Technologies that enhance this are great, but they are just tools. They are never the main focus.

Twitter is quickly becoming the main focus — and that’s scary.

Bill Christianson is the editor of the Redmond Reporter. He can be reached at bchristianson@redmond-reporter.com or at (425) 867-0353, ext. 5050.