I started using Twitter a couple of months ago after hearing a number of speakers praise the service at the Web Directions North conference in Vancouver.

My first impression was: "So what?" [cue: Miles Davis] Do I really care what other people are doing every minute of their day? No, I don't.

However, it wasn't long before I started to see the value of the 140 character info share commonly called a "tweet." There are plenty of useful tips and pointers I get throughout the day from the people I'm following.

I also see ways that businesses can benefit from using Twitter internally. The informal format of the tweet enables quick, collaborative sharing between co-workers and work groups, and provides relief from email and IM fatigue.

Certainly, the meteoric rise of Twitter is backed by true usefulness, and even the service's continual problems with scaling don't seem to be problematic enough to rock the boat in any serious way. (In fact, the scaling problem might actually be creating traffic-spiking buzz for Twitter.)

I do see a significant problem with Twitter though, and it's on the rise and difficult to control. That issue is "Twitter noise."

While I appreciate learning about twitizens' latest blog posts, their unique solutions to daily problems, and the links and resources they're generously sharing, I really don't want to know what you're eating, when you're sleeping, and what tickles your funny bone. Simply put, tweeting this kind of stuff is a waste of everyone's time, and I'd like to see "professional tweeters" put an end to all the "Good night!" and "I love sushi!" tweets once and for all. The "twitterverse" is growing exponentially and the more we can curb the small talk, the better the quality of the signal to noise ratio will be, ensuring a viable service for more than just a financial quarter or two. Failure to "cut the fat" will result in a stale and stunted has-been, with users bailing out in favor of the next great collaborative web app.

Twitter filtering and threading functionality would be helpful with keeping conversations tightly themed and easier to follow, but ultimately the quality of Twitter will depend on its users and whether or not we have enough self-control to filter out the noise we create–before we tweet it.