"Ambient awareness", or, I was just thinking that...

[Ghoulish Delight]

I definitely find my relationship with twitter falling in line with what's described in the OP link. The "what is everyone doing now" aspect isn't so much about people wanting to necessarily know exactly what everyone's doing. It's just the seed, that dumb excuse to pull out your phone and check the site. And so it guarantee's that someone's there and there's a conversation to be had. It's a way to fill those short bursts of downtime conversing with friends, uniquely suited to moments too short to do anything like reading or bettering one's self that go otherwise entirely wasted staring at a progress bar or sitting on hold or suffering through a powerpoint presentation

Actually I'm proud to say I have not even felt tempted to twitter or read twitter during a meeting. Right up to the start, absolutely, but once the projector turns on (there's ALWAYS a projector these days), phone is in my pocket.