Macworld posted a nice little opinion piece on the Eight ways Twitter will change your life.  I wouldn't consider myself an avid twitter-er but I do update a few time through out the day and whenever something of interest pops across my mind-field.  But the nice little thing about this Macworld list is that it's suggesting 8 reasons Twitter will change MY life.  So far, besides giving me a reason to install Adobe Air and Twirl, I really can't say my life has been altered but I'll go point by point and see if it applies to the average guy like me:

1. Blow the Weather Channel Away: Instant notification of major events

This maybe true for those with a ton of followers or publications with followers; however, I wouldn't rely on Twitter for up to the minute information on critical news such as earthquakes.  But it's sure nice to tell people that Calgary is 22 degrees Celsius on Halloween!

2. Find your next job or employee: looking for marketing or social media positions

OK.  Again, if your field is advertising or social media analysis then I suppose a place like Twitter is your natural landing zone.  But for the rest of the world that's not in this niche industry (for now), Twitter isn't anymore helpful than monster.com or other job posting sites.  With Twitter's growth pattern heavily saturated with marketers and promoters, look for Twitter Spam to be the new frontier for spammers.

3. Ditch Google for some things:  Human powered searches

This is another point where having followers would help.  Otherwise you would be stuck wading through a million pointless posts about your search term before finding something of relevance.  Unless you have a lot of time to kill, Google is still the spot to go.  There is potential for this idea however, and I would not be surprised if it does provide a revenue platform for the future of Twitter.

4. Round up your posse in a hurry: social gathering in real life locations

This would be handy for groups of people with similar interests such as model builders R us or the like.  For the everyday Joe that has 8+ friends he wants to meet, a mass text would work just as well.  There's again potential but it's certainly not life changing unless you are a massive social butterfly - but then you would have to watch for massive butterfly nets...

5. Boost your boob tube's IQ: live tweet feeds on TV

Similar to on-demand music video shows, live feeds of filtered Tweets are the next big thing.  This all started with Reality Television where viewers now expect to be involved in the entertainment process. If there's nothing live then it must suck.  I'm of a generation that prefers their entertainment laid back and relaxed.  But having the ability to chime in quickly during a live cast of the presidential debates is certainly noteworthy.  Free speech extended to free digital text.  Who would have believed that before 1920 women couldn't vote!