Since I am the nerd of the family (I'm sure many of you can appreciate that), family always asks me: should I get on Twitter? My answer is "probably not" because it is really terrible as a person-to-person communication platform. 140 char limit will do that to you.
I use Twitter and it does have some uses, and I tell the family and friends that it's useful for...
* Breaking news (it's like a wire-service for the masses);
* Closely following a product/celebrity/athlete/event/sport;
* Posting a short question on a specific topic via #;
* Posting or finding witticisms and satire;
* Posting or finding a status report (not viable to foster a discussion by any means); and
* Finding spam, click-bait, impersonators of real people, bots, pr0n, and completely inaccurate information.
I mainly use Twitter myself to follow athletes in the NFL (primarily my team, Green Bay) and the three forms of motorsport I watch: NASCAR, Formula 1, and IndyCar. I really like Twitter during one of these sporting events because posters can give you more detail/insight into the event or people involved than just the TV or radio broadcasters (Example: sideline/pit reporters or members of a team participating in the event who can tweet during the event.)
IMHO though, the spam/bots/clickbait is out of control and detracts from the platform.