I am probably going to make a lot of posts about twitter. It’s in the news daily, and its use had exploded over the last year.
And, I'm a big believer in the power it wields, as long as you learn to harness that power.
When I mention Twitter to family and friends, the first question is usually "Why?" followed up with a question akin to "Why do people care when I go pee or eat breakfast or take a nap?"
And my response is just they do, that they seem to develop a vested interest in your words and actions, and that once I stopped worrying about the whys, Twitter became much more interesting, and much more useful.
But for whatever reason, that "Why Wall" is a big one for some people, and they just can't climb over it and enjoy the revolution...
That's one of the other reasons I plan to write about Twitter a lot. I believe it's a useful tool for personal communications, and a very beneficial one for businesses trying to maximize whatever it is they do.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Why do we Tweet?
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Just as in real life, some are better than others when it comes to signal to noise ratio. Extroverts are going to blather on about whatevers on their mind without much of a mental filter, whereas introverts are going to process more internally and only tweet the juicy nuggets. When it comes to real life, I enjoy a conversation with an extrovert; when I'm following someone on the web, I like introverts.
ReplyDeleteReff :)
ReplyDeletethanks for the comment. as comments start to come in, i'll respond to some directly, and others will make good material for larger posts.
i think you hit on something there with the signal to noise ratio and introverts vs. extroverts, so i'll save this for an upcoming entry. thanks!
Only on twitter can I find people who want to hear my brain's commentary about the crappy TV I like to watch at night. But, I get sick of reading all the "tiny url"s to outside links. Some people promote TOO much.
ReplyDeleteone of my biggest issues with Twitter is the auto-responder "thanks for following me! now check this link to see how YOU can make money using Twitter, four rubber bands, and a box of Sour Apple Jolly Ranchers!
ReplyDeleteThe response to why would you want to hear about what everybody is eating for breakfast is: this is the beauty of Twitter, you don't have to. If you don't like or are interested in what someone is saying, simply stop following them, it's that easy.
ReplyDeleteCreating a list of people to follow is like making a great mix tape, you keep honing it until your stream is filled with people saying things that are interesting to you.
And finally, Twitter works because it's not intrusive. It doesn't come into your email or anywhere unless you turn it on, like the tv or radio. Listen when you want, talk back if you feel like it, and turn it off when you are done.
Jill - great stuff. I love the mix tape analogy. If you don't mind, I'm going to borrow that phrase from you, because it's good enough that it oughta be repeated often.
ReplyDeleteand absolute about the non-intrusive nature of Twitter. that was basically what i talked about in my first post on WAGG, Interaction, Not interruption.