So it sounds like having an account means the one-sided part of it goes away. That’d make sense. I’ll have to think about it and decide if it’s important enough to sign up. Right now, it’s 50/50.
It’s not that big a decision. You don’t need to agonise over it. Sign up; if you don’t like it, leave. Asking opinions is a poor substitute for just taking a look yourself. Only takes a minute to sign up.
I know it only takes a few minutes, but you should see how long it takes me to decide which shirt to wear! 
Interesting you should say that. This morning, after ignoring twitter for years, I finally signed up for a twitter account. There was an interview on NPR of an LA Times techhnology journalist, and he recommended a couple of people to follow on Twitter who have funny yet insightful commentary on political matters. I also signed up for twitter accounts for human rights (namely Amnesty International, which is an organization I have been a member of for many years.) I don’t predict that I will follow any of the people I know IRL.
What convinced me to join Twitter was partly the fact that I now have a cell phone with an unlimited data plan. This is my first smartphone, before I used a dumb phone because my iPod touch fulfilled all my portable computer needs. I still use mostly the iPod touch with the cell phone as a wifi hotspot.
I use it to track the food trucks in Chicago to see if any will be in my area for lunch.
Other than that I have no use for it.
That was meant to be addressed to the OP: “funny I should happen to see this thread on the day I joined Twitter.”