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Jan5

I’m going to the bathroom, if anyone’s interested

Ok, I know George and Bruce will probably kill me for this, but I just don’t get Twitter. For marketing purposes, I completely understand where it’s beneficial. However, social marketing is only effective if you have an audience. So, why is Twitter working so well? Twitter Logo

I know people love to talk about themselves, but frankly I don’t think anyone needs to know what I’m doing every 5 minutes. I guess if I have something to say, I say it to the relevant people. I also personally don’t give a shit what you’re up to. I mean that out of love. I swear. I love to know where my friends are and what they are up to, but I really don’t need a play by play. Knowing you’re at work or out for the night is just fine. I just don’t care that you’re brainstorming for a big project, just beat someone at Halo, or just ran out to the bathroom. Really. Who really needs that information?

I’m all for a personal IM conversation with my friends, but I don’t need the whole world to know. I guess that’s why I don’t update my facebook status. I only write on people’s walls. That may be why the “mini-feed” pisses me off. Sure it invites more conversations, and I know people can view whatever if we’re friends, I just don’t think my friends need to know every freaking thing I do. I’m all for advances in technology, especially in our industry, but isn’t there a point where we’ve lost all personal communication?

I’ll give Twitter some credit for putting like-minded folks together. I think it’s a great system for bouncing ideas off other people or getting help, but do I really need to know that you had a snowy drive into work this morning? If the point of Twitter is to get information from people and share ideas, great, but that’s clearly not what it’s used for, at least not exclusively.

I’m sure the hate mail will come soon from Twitter defenders, but please someone explain why I should Twitterfy my life!!

posted in: opinion, rant, social networks, software

This post was published on Monday, January 5, 2009 at 5:00 am

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Comments

1

Darko

January 5, 2009 at 7:21 am

It’s great for telling the world that you wrote a blog post… which you just did :) I find it’s not so much what I’ve got to say – it’s more what others tweet.

2

George

January 5, 2009 at 7:39 am

Awesome post, and you are totally right that Bruce and I will debate this. Actually, your position is very valid, in fact something Shannon said to me this past vacation really echoed your point. I made a Twitter post that I was “hoping to get 3 hours sleep before the baby wakes up” and Shannon’s response was “how pathetic.”

It is Tweets like those which give Twitter a bad name and I think it’s because sometimes we feel we HAVE TO say something, rather then saying something relevant.

Good Tweets are like making small talk, which leads to conversation. For instance, if I was at the Boulder New Tech Meetup and I made a quick statement like “IIS 7 is faster then Apache” I could instantly start engaging and heated discussions. This, I would argue is the physical equivalent of Twitter.

It’s not the tool which should be condemned, it’s the use of the tool which needs to be improved.

3

Stephanie

January 5, 2009 at 10:17 am

George, I agree. I think the tool itself is amazing and inventive. It’s a brilliant way to communicate and interact with others. That’s exactly my point that people just feel they need to say something because they haven’t for an hour. I realize the whole benefit is NOT regulating what people say, so I do love that it’s a free forum. I just find it funny in what it has turned to. I guess that’s why I don’t blog or speak up a lot in meetings. I only speak when I think I have something important to say that will actually affect others, not when some random thought crosses my mind. :)

4

Aida

January 5, 2009 at 10:48 am

I would agree, but it’s something we don’t have control of. What Twitter asks you is “What are you doing?” and that question is wide open. Now, the answers to “What are you doing?” can either be annoying or intrigue conversation. I’m going to the bathroom is something no one needs to know, and something I would not reply to. But, I’m going to see Dark Knight could spark conversation about the movie even though it’s still about what one person is doing at the moment.

Another change that’s happening on Twitter is that the question is becoming irrelevant. “What are you doing?” is being answered by “What’s the next generation of high definition tv?” or “Check out Macworld Expo from January 5th-9th.” So Twitter is becoming a source/exchange of information among the community. Perhaps they could change “What are you doing?” to “What do you have to say today?”

5

Kathryn

January 5, 2009 at 10:54 am

I think a good rule of thumb is, if someone can’t reply to your comment or start a conversation, Don’t post it. (i.e. “I’m eating a banana” how many people are going to reply “I like banana’s too! Let’s chat about it”). I have started deleting people from my twitter feed who say things like “I’m hungry”.

I also find it funny that the whole idea is to “start a conversation” but less than 8% of my the tweets in my twitter feed are replies to things I have said. Maybe it’s because I am an uninteresting person… which is likely, but I like living in blissful ignorance.

Lastly, I think twitter needs to remove the display of followers. I think this adds a desire to add as many people as possible in order to fulfill a quota of people on the followers list. That’s not really the point, is it folks?

6

Wendy

January 5, 2009 at 11:25 am

Ok, I can’t NOT respond to this post. Steph, I completely agree that a lot of Twitter users post pointless facts about their life. I myself was anti-Twitter for a while, but have grown to love it. Here’s why:

1. I have control over who I follow. If I find that someone on my buddy list is constantly posting pointless tidbits, I stop following them. Simple as that!

2. I have found Twitter extremely useful for sharing and receiving information about our industry. I follow a lot of the local bloggers, business owners, etc. and have been involved in many interesting conversations about tools, articles, and our local tech scene.

3. Guilty pleasure confession. I sometimes find it really interesting when people use Twitter as a short-form diary. Do I really need to know that George is running on no sleep because of the baby? No, but it gives me a whole new view of George! :) Lame, but kinda fun.

Bottom line: Twitter isn’t for everyone, but it’s definitely for me.

7

Bruce

January 5, 2009 at 11:36 am

Steph — here’s my take on this issue. With close friends a large portion of conversation tends to centered around bullshit. I.E. gossip, how your day was, etc.

Yet, because these people are your close friends you are still intrigued and interested in even this seemingly worthless information. It’s like talking to your mother, she just wants to hear how you’ve been, even if how you’ve been is completely uninteresting.

Basically what I am saying is that some of these posts that seem worthless are actually interesting to a decent number of people.

Further, twitter is the single service I know of that gives me direct insight into a famous/a-lister’s daily life. I find it interesting to keep up on what one of my idol designers does on a daily basis. It gives me insight into their approach, inspiration, and reminds me that they’re an everyday person just like me. Other services (facebook, myspace, etc.) require them to “accept you” in order to get this type of information. With twitter you are given the ability to follow whoever you want without them having to “allow” it.

Having direct access to people that you could never get access to is a huge benefit. Add on the: think-tank community, the ability to get questions answered instantly, and the simplicity. And it’s easy to see why twitter is so addicting and popular.

8

Stephanie

January 5, 2009 at 12:05 pm

I’m all for sharing pointless BS with a few of my close friends, but why does everyone who follows me have to know?

I agree with AIda, Wendy, and Bruce. You all make very good points, and I see why others love it. I’m not busting on Twitter itself, I’m more making fun of the way it has shifted in use. It’s more of a culture shift with new technologies and applications. It’s an entertaining shift. I have no issues with Twitter. I just think it’s funny to see how people use it.

I know why everyone loves Twitter. It’s just not something I consider using every hour of every day. I can’t image I have enough to say or others have enough to say to make it worth using religiously. I’m on there if I have a specific question, not just because I’m “supposed” to be on there.

9

Bruce

January 5, 2009 at 12:29 pm

Fair enough. I can see that point.

I do agree that twitter could use more filtering capability. I think the quintessential point is that you only follow who you want to. If too many of their posts don’t interest you or seem too BS driven then you can choose to not have them in your feed. On the other hand, if you find their day to day small updates interesting maybe it’s worth the few seconds of time it takes to track them.

Clearly twitter is a hybrid service, it has been changing constantly since it was introduced. And I’m sure it will continue to spawn new ideas and uses in the future too. The funny thing is that most people I know that start using it out of pressure (I.E. Kat) end up finding it addicting and surprisingly useful.

I guess my thing is that although twitter does create a lot of bulk, most of which isn’t directly interesting to me, it still has enough positive benefits to make me use it constantly.

10

Scott

January 8, 2009 at 10:02 am

Now for the old man perspective. I find twitter and many other social media concepts to be very interesting and creative ideas. But in the end I always have to ask myself, is this going to help me get where I want to go in life, or is it just another distraction.

In my younger days back in college I used to take on anything and everything because I was so excited to try new things. I wanted to do it all. What I finally realized is that while trying to do everything, I wasn’t doing any of them very well. Or at least not up to my standards. I realized that I needed to really look at what was important to me and eliminate things that were not consistent with those goals.

Being on the internet all day in front of a computer is a constant source of distractions these days. I have come to realize that for any real creative thinking to occur about a complex problem these distractions need to be eliminated. So I reduce my mail frequency and turn off Instant Messaging. I hide my browser so that news stories don’t distract me.

Maybe I am old and my brain doesn’t work as well as kids these days, but I have learned what works for me.