In February we had an awesome 3rd Thursday meetup to talk about the positives and negatives of Twitter. And, as always happens with discussions regarding twitter, the argument: “Why do I care that someone just bought salami at the store?”, was presented^*.

I’ll be honest, as a fairly hardcore twitter user it’s impossible to argue that this type of talk doesn’t take place on Twitter. It does.

That said, I think that you have to recognize that people inherently have a certain level of care (rather they admit it or not) about what people around them are doing. Realistically you can’t get closer to someone without eventually breaking down some personal barriers. At Imulus we have an extremely transparent work environment. Consequently we talk about a lot of personal things that outside people might find “mundane” or “not interesting”. However, it’s this exchange that brings us closer. Think of it this way, when I talk with my mom she always asks me what I’ve done recently. While I usually don’t have incredible stories to tell her, she is still genuinely interested because she cares about me.

For the first time I think the right mix of ingredients has been blended to make this type of interaction possible online. It’s called twitter, and here’s why it works:

1. At 140 characters it’s manageable. I don’t have to spend time reading a huge novel about how George (Imulus co-founder) got together with some friends and made a bacon explosion. Instead, I spend three seconds reading his tweet and think, “damn, I like George, I hope he doesn’t die of a heart attack.” It’s a smile on my face and something I can bring to a conversation sometime.
2. You pick who you’re invested in and if they’re worth it. I think sometimes people forget that they don’t have to follow a ton of people on twitter. The truth is you should only follow the people who you get something positive from. Perhaps it’s humor, perhaps you know them in real life, or perhaps they are your idol. The point is you have the choice to regulate your level of involvement (@penguin really said it best).
3. You don’t have to get permission. This may sound creepy but the great thing about following someone on twitter is that in most cases you don’t have to get their permission. Instead, you can start having them contribute to your feed without having to inconvenience them or worry about if they know you. This gives people the ability to take part in a relationship on one side until they feel like they have something to contribute.

These three things combined create a community dynamic that, to date, has yet to be seen online. Plus, I’m not even including twitter’s other benefits (asking questions, trend tracking, professional exposure, etc.) I’m simply talking about human relationships and their ability to exist in a manageable way online.

^{* Please note this may not have been the exact argument given. But it gets the point across and allows me to use the world salami without sounding dirty.}