Our opinion of Twitter, the microblogging site that allows you to disseminate two-sentence brain droppings via text or IM to your personalized network of "followers," hasn't changed much since October 2007, when we put it at number 42 on our Overrated list. Evidently, we are old-fashioned in our aversion to the service: tech site Gigaom is reporting that Twitter has raised $15 million in funding at around $80 million pre-money valuation. (Valleywag, though, says the VC deal hasn't officially closed yet.)
Ironically, as loyal Tweeters know, the news comes at an interesting time: The site has been experiencing frequent service interruptions of late, rendering it impossible for people to let their 500 closest friends know that they "OMFG ... Just got a speeding ticket on way to work. Sux!" or whatever. Unfortunately for us, however, the site is getting more and more mainstream by the day. Expect 140-character Radar Tweets in lieu of posts by the time of the IPO.