In case you’ve been asleep the past couple of months (or don’t live in the United States), the U.S. Presidential primaries are really heating up now. On the tech front one area that could be very interesting to watch as we move towards November is Twitter.

Tonight was the New Hampshire primary debate for both Republicans and Democrats (co-sponsored by Facebook by the way – interesting how many tech companies are now sponsoring these, YouTube, etc…). As I watched it expressing some thoughts over Twitter and getting a lot of responses in real-time, I couldn’t help but think that this is another great avenue that can showcase key uses for new communication platforms such as Twitter.

I write something, a few hundred people (if not more on the public timeline) see it and can potentially respond to me. Whether they agree with me or think I’m an idiot is irrelevant, the fact that it’s encouraging meaningful discussion is great and I can only imagine will get better as we get closer to Election Day. This is the power of the medium. Sure I could have this conversation over an individual IM, but why not open it up to hundreds of people? If they want to respond that’s great, if not, they can just watch it fly by on their stream.

As Grant Robertson suggests (his site), all of this political discussion on Twitter may in fact grow tiresome by November, but to me it still beats out talk about Scoble being booted from Facebook any day (though I do acknowledge there was a meaningful side-discussion to that debate – and I also acknowledge that I talk about BS topics myself). And as “Rizzn” Hopkins suggests (his site), many people may stop following us turned off by our political asides, but if that’s the case so be it. As enthralling as it may be to some to see updates of when I’m going to the gym, I gain much more pleasure in potentially starting a meaningful discussion.

There was a pretty good discussion about the debates on Twitter tonight despite the fact that I live on the west coast and it was delayed 3 hours (and further delayed for me as I recorded it) – I can only imagine the activity on Twitter if the event was shown live across the country. I’m looking forward to more discussion on Twitter – again, regardless of what side you’re on – because as Barack Obama said at one point tonight, words (and discussion) do matter:

“And, you know, so the truth is actually words do inspire. Words do help people get involved. Words do help members of Congress get into power so that they can be part of a coalition to deliver health care reform, to deliver a bold energy policy. Don’t discount that power, because when the American people are determined that something is going to happen, then it happens.”

More thoughts:

• Twitter Is Dead, Long Live Twitter!
• Pownce Goes Mobile, Offers A Few Things Twitter Doesn’t
• Twitter Is In the Eye of the Beholder
• Pownce Prettys Up, Twitter Still Looking Good
• Twitter Once Again Comes Through In An Emergency Situation
• Has Twitter Just Twittered the Shark?
• Twitter Becoming A Larger Force
• Facebook Goes Live With Their New Look, Dare I Say, Twitter Inspired?
  
• Newsweek Jumping On Twitter Wagon
• Twitter My News To Me Fast