Is too much Twitter even enough?

I spend a lot of time reading various social media blogs, comments, tweets, articles, whatever. I do this for professional reasons, to stay in touch with latest trends, thoughts, memes, technologies and ideas. I spend even more time trying to wrap my head around what it all means, and how will people be using it not just tomorrow but years into the future. So not just which technologies, but what kinds of interactions will stick.

Lately, I think a lot about Twitter. Sometimes it seems like Twitter has two kinds of people on it: "Social media experts," talking to each other, and a bunch of regular (well, early-adopter) folks living their lives out loud and online. The experts are sifting through Twitter looking for keywords and trends and then discussing them. Everybody else is chatting (and, um, being sifted through).

One thing about following social media experts is that there is SO MUCH discussion. (Yes, it's professional, but still, a lot!) By definition, these are people who love to communicate online, in as many different ways as possible. Therefore, you have a LOT of communication. Not that this is a bad thing. But boy, we have some major information management challenges. And of course, it's not just Twitter.

I have seen multiple blog posts about how to cope with all this information -- from social media experts, of course. Those experts are probably the most well-equipped to deal with this onslaught of information. Often these are people (yes, me too) who have been working in and around technology for years. For them, each step has been incremental, with just that many more communication sources to wrap their heads around. It probably hasn't been as overwhelming as it might be for other people entering the onslaught now.

There's no question, information management tools are critical for professionals. TweetDeck, for example, is completely necessary for me to Twitter for an organization. But what about regular people? How do you deal with tweets from friends, business, news sources, etc.

Twitter has been referred to as a "water cooler" for the work-at-home set. Heck, I am in that group, and it's definitely part of the appeal. Facebook, too, with all the photos of my friends' awkward teen years. But for all those other people using it, what's the analogy? Town square? Community Center? News Channel? I'm sure there isn't one answer for everyone.

I'm curious, what percent of the people you follow are friends, institutions, businesses, other? Is it mostly professional or mostly personal? Does the world divide into people who use Twitter professionally, or maybe to stay in touch with specific communities, and those who use it just for fun? And if you follow businesses (@starbucks? @virginamerica?), why? And is there a cap to how many you might follow?

These are just a few of the questions I am currently pondering. And not just the current answers to these questions, but the future ones. All thoughts, opinions, and comments welcome.