Remember the old commercial: "This changes everything." I sense this about the real-time social engagement triggered by social media technologies, such as Twitter.
If you look to the left, you'll see my latest tweets fed to this blog site. Suddenly, the blog is no longer a static commentary. It now becomes an immediate opportunity for engagement with me. If you disagree with what I say here, then tweet me!
The significance of the sea change has to do with what media learned in the early days of the Web. Television news, for example, found they could drive TV audience traffic to a website, and then use it to drive traffic back to the next newscast.
The "bounce" from one media platform to another is part of what makes real-time social media engagement so exciting. The 140 character blip translates to expanded commentary, and then back to more discussion.
I am not sure Twitter has captured this market for the long-term, but the concept of real-time social engagement is here to stay.