I've made an investment over the last year, building up the rivers I use, both from a software and content standpoint. I've realized more and more that's how I was using Twitter. To be in the loops of writers, both professional and bloggers, in a systematic way. I wanted to see how rich I could make it.

Turns out it's pretty good. I still use Twitter, and for now that's okay.

Except for Newyorkist announcing that he is making his bed, each of the tweets is from people I feel I know well through their online personnas, and each is pointing to something worth reading.

Bora Zivkovic is a scientist blogger from North Carolina. Philip Greenspun is a genius entrepreneur, systems guy, developer, pilot, libertarian. Highly opinionated, great writer. Jay Rosen is of course always on-topic, a thinker and linker and media observer. Miguel de Icaza is a great community leader, programmer, and is politically outspoken (like me and Greenspun) and Chris Dixon is a NYC-based entrepreneur, VC and also a wise guy. :-)

I would subscribe to any of these guys in my rivers, and in fact I do. Most of the content they're pointing to exists on the web, outside of Twitter, but I'm not subscribing to all of it. I want people like Chris and Miguel to have a linkblog, so that their links live outside Twitter as well as their writing.

These are all super smart people and I think they will immediately understand why it's good to have feet on both the platform and the train, at the same time.