This weekend I came across opposing views on Twitter through write-ups in two publications.

First, there’s Time magazine, which put Twitter on its cover with the headline “How Twitter Will Change the Way We Live (in 140 characters or less)”, for a story written by Steven Johnson (@stevenbjohnson on Twitter). The issue is full of Twitter ideas and examples of best uses, especially for businesses, in the article titled: “10 Ways Twitter Will Change American Business.” Worth checking out, especially if you’re still skeptical.

On the other side of the keyboard is a column in The Business Monthly, a business newspaper serving the Baltimore-Washington, D.C. corridor. In the May issue, columnist Cliff Feldwick (he does not have a Twitter account) compares Twitter to the Citizen’s Band radio fad of the 1970s, under the headline “Pounding on the Keyboard: Twitter, Twitter, Good Buddy” Here is an excerpt:

“What started as a pretty good idea – lower-powered radios that companies or people could use to communicate freely in a local area – became a fad that spawned its own language and culture. And six months later, it spawned a rash of amazingly cheap used CB radios in yard sales. The pure banality of what most people were saying finally overtook the uniqueness of the trend and the craze died a quick death.

So as you see from the headline, it’s déjà vu all over again, this time with Twitter.”

So what do you think? Did Time whiff on this one, devoting page after page to a useless fad? Or has columnist Feldwick nailed it?