They Call it Twitter Because They Couldn't Call it Stalker

During Christmas break I discussed Twitter with a friend. She was unfamiliar with the phenomenon, as was I only a few days before, so I described it based off the "Twitter in Plane English" video on Twitter's homepage. In that video Twitter describes itself as a way for people to inform the people in their network of what they are doing between the important events in their life. For example, someone may write an email or chat on IM about eating breakfast with the family, working, and going to a concert that evening. Twitter, however, allows those folks to share the "little things that happen in your life." Those little things? Mowing the lawn, drinking coffee, picking your nose, etc.

At the end of the conversation my friend say with a wonderfully straight face, "Sounds like they called it Twitter because they couldn't call it stalker."

I laughed and laughed. With the fear of sounding reactionary and, dare I say it, like a fuddy duddy, is Twitter a bit much? Is Twitter the 21st century stalker?