Disclaimer
The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent anyone else's view in any way, including those of my employer.
© Copyright 2009
The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent anyone else's view in any way, including those of my employer.
© Copyright 2009
There seem to be three camps when it comes to Twitter:
If you’ve ever tried to explain your Twitter use to someone from group two or three then you know how difficult it is to put your finger right on exactly why Twitter is so handy. I’ve just posted by 6,000th Tweet! It feels like a big milestone but I’m not sure why.
My best answer is that, if you cultivate the right followers and follow the right people, Twitter is an ongoing engaging, informative, and entertaining conversation. It’s like having all your friends take part in your subconcious all day long. Personally, I really dig that. Sure, it’s not for everyone. I understand the arguments of the Avoiders (though I secretly believe it’s because they don’t follow the right people).
So if you’re an Avid Tweeter how do you explain it? I’ve also posted this to Twitter with the hash tag #metatweet so feel free to follow the answers here.
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To quote my friend, @jebbanner: Twitter is the most useful waste of time. It’s like being at the water cooler, conference room, front door, and foyer all at the same time.
I twitter to follow conversation trends, to connect with people in real time, to share blogs & links of interest, to promote my work and others work, and to find people of interest.
Twitter is the digital watering hole. It’s the Interstate highway. It’s the power grid. It’s a grand experiment.
It’s what you make of it.
@scottyhendo
I have to confess that I first heard about Twitter in its very early days and probably fell into your group 2. It seemed, from the outside, quite invasive and did I really want to know the boring bits of people’s lives.
Anyway, I decided to give it a go last year and I love it. I work from home when I’m not with clients so my fellow Tweeters are like my office companions. I can ask them things, have a joke and find out what is going on.
I pick up news fast on this network, I make new friends, new colleagues, new business contacts. Learn masses of new stuff, arrange meetings, find out what the weather is like in loads of different places – the list is endless.
You do need to be a bit disciplined – it would be easy to spend all day Tweeting. And you do need to be a bit selective in who you follow – celebs are OK in small doses but, be honest, you really don’t want to live with a room full of them!
Opt-in public IRC– It’s noisy, but it’s not that noisy.
Keyword trending– So I know what topics are popular
FB status update– So I don’t have to log into Facebook
Asides: mini blog posts– So I don’t have to log into WordPress
–to name a few.
@smjdesign
I tweet and read tweets for multiple reasons, and a lot of it is dependent on who I have decided to follow. I only follow about 100 people. I know there are many who follow hundreds and thousands and are content to miss lots of posts. I prefer to carve out a list to follow and keep up with it (as far as I can). Here’s what I get out of it:
1. I pick up on news about education and instructional technology as it’s happening
2. I hear about how other are using technology
3. I hear comments about public issues and gauge what people like me are thinking
4. I have a sense of belonging to a group of people that I am not obligated to visit and have coffee with
5. By virtue of the character limit, I have a place in which to deliver one-liners–having fun
6. I can write down a thought or idea–writing is thinking
7. I may get a useful response from a follower
I do not, however, contribute much that is probably useful to those that follow me. I am not looking for a place in which I can be a resident expert and make pronouncements. I just like to hang out with a smart crowd. For more substantial conversations, I need more time to think and more than 140 characters. What I hope I can offer is some amusement–who knew?
It is hard to navigate the information “megaphone”. Sure Google is helpful, but nothing beats a respected colleagues thoughts on something they have seen, heard or read. Twitter gives me this.
I also think the idea(s) that fly around twitter have more merit/value/weight (whatever you want to call it) when you have also kept up with that person’s life. We sometimes criticize Twitter because people post things like, “It’s 3 am and I’m still awake… #^% I need some coffee..” but I find these things help me build a schema and connect me more closely with that person.. thus their ideas are easier to place/remember/appreciate.
My 2 cents.
I do what Barbara does and for the same reasons everyone else tweets. I follow just around 30ish people who are posting stuff, tidbits, links, etc in my field. I’ll stop following someone who takes up too much twitter real estate with play by plays. I try to tweet for the same reasons I follow folks with a rants, and politics for spice. I do more socializing with FB friends.
I get a lot of tidbits with Twitter, things I wouldn’t otherwise get, nobody blogs what they tweet, at least I don’t think they do.
I described Twitter as an ongoing conference of like minds.
I’m not sure if like minds is accurate, as you can follow and get followed by a pretty diverse group.
It definitely fits the web attention span, that’s for sure.
While I’m here, I recently went to a launch party for PMOG. Have you studied this? What’s your take?
I only started tweeting about a month ago. I am researching it to possibly use as an emergency notification method for our university. I haven’t really looked into following many people, just a few friends so far, and our student-run publication to keep track of what they’re thinking. I also use it to update my Facebook page, because when I log into FB at work, I always end up spending too much time looking at stuff!