Bit of brouhaha this week in Twitterdom after The Sunday Times ran a story that dismisses Twitter as the online equivalent of a high school cafeteria, filled with boring, gossiping narcissists who “lack an identity.”

If you haven’t read it, check it out, and then immediately read this great response. Because there, laid out neatly on your screen, is a cheat sheet version of the great social media debate. In one corner is the “waste of timers”. In the other, the “new world of connections” supporters.

Unfortunately, smack in the middle sits the PR and new media strategists who understand how integral social media is to a modern communications campaign, but who must find ways clearly articulate this value to the skeptics.

In my experience, social media critics like the writer at the Times fail to see big picture. Is Twitter full of iPhone fanboys and obsessive “who’s following who” comments? Absolutely. But so what? That’s hardly the whole story of Twitter. Effective face-to-face networking consists of 90 per cent small talk as people get to know each other, and about 10 per cent meat. And few see networking as a waste of time. Tuning in for a snippet of the endless online conversation misses the bigger point of site like Twitter, which is all about building deep, lasting connections.

Bottom line – it’s good to be skeptical, but when looking at social but it’s also important not to lose the forest for the trees.