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If you spend much time on forums, in places like Digg, etc., you’ll notice a trend: there’s a group of people who cannot see why people use Twitter.

There are different uses for Twitter. Companies and Celebrities alike have found it as a way to reach out directly to their masses, 140 characters at a time.

However, for the average user, there are many more ways to use Twitter. But to use Twitter properly, you have to understand what Twitter is.

Imagine, for a moment, Twitter as the offspring of SMS, RSS, and Social Networking. SMS is the technical term for Text Messaging. RSS is short for Really Simple Syndication, and it’s used by websites to update you the end user with their content through an RSS feed (basically, an RSS feed finds the stuff you want for you). And finally, most people know what social networking is.

So, outside of things you follow like your favorite Clebs, the USGS, NASA, etc., you can also follow your friends. You can also select some friends for mobile following, meaning their tweets are sent to you by text message, and you can update by text or phone app. Like RSS, it finds things posted by friends and things you’re interested in, into your timeline. Like SMS, you can communicate with your circle of friends and family instantly with only one text or tweet, thus augmenting your social network.

It’s not for posting long blogs, or updates on everything you do (some people think that posting bodily functions is part of the Twitter experience, no body cares). It’s about updating simple things, thoughts, etc. on the go.

This is what confuses some people. “If you can’t post a long blog post, why would you want to post 140 character messages? Who cares?” Well, your friends might if you update on your Twitter: “Flat tire sucks, even worse on the freeway” or fun things like “New rollercoaster at Theme Park is AWESOME.”

It takes a little creativity to know when to use Twitter, and with services like Twitpic and Trunc.it, you can expand your Twitter experience, but you still need to know when and where to use it. As you can tell I don’t Tweet very often, and for good reason: I don’t have that much that is that interesting, but when I move, I will.