Everywhere I turn these days someone is writing a blog post about Twitter. I look at my LinkedIn groups and it’s Twitter this and Twitter that. There are articles all over the web on how to rapidly increase the number of followers you have, rules on proper Tweet ettiquette, how to get a job by using Twitter, etc..
If you’re about to read one of these articles about Twitter, step back from you computer and consider if it’s really for you. Answer these simple questions:
- Do I really want to communicate with other people? Twitter is all about communication with others. Do you really want to waste valuable time you could be spending playing World of Warcraft?
- Do you really have anything you want to share with others? If you’re spending time reading this blog post you probably need help identifying real information vs. foolish chatter anyway. You may have nothing to share.
- Do you really want to read the thoughts of industry leaders, entertainers, politicians? Most likely you’re better off ignoring everyone, ignorance is bliss as they say.
While you’re pondering those deeply insightful questions, check out this bit of propoganda I recently read on why you want to be on Twitter. I don’t buy it, but someone has to.
John
p.s. Many people seem to be missing that I am actually a Twitter Fanatic. However, if you want to reach me on Twitter you can find me at @JohnFMoore
April 27, 2009 at 1:40 pm
[...] Stop talking about Twitter, I’ve heard enough. [...]
April 3, 2009 at 3:37 pm
Thanks for the thoughts John. I got the humor and enjoyed it.
My wife (NHJennifer) is a huge tweeter and introduced me to it. She is a radio talk show host and was a candidate for US Congress so she gets a lot of mileage out of it.
I understand the frustration that some people have regarding the amount of white noise that you see in Twitter, Facebook and other forms of social media (I find LinkedIn to be the most valuable so far). However, I think you hit the nail on the head with you comments on organization and the Tweetdeck helps tremendously.
But another important factor is discipline. You can tell at a glance if a tweet is of professional interest or not. If not…skip it quickly. People who get sidetracked by following tweets as if they are window shopping will find themselves slaves to their keyboards.
Get organized, scan quickly and stay disciplined. You’ll get something of value in a short time — whether it be product information, a new approach to a problem, or maybe a new professional contact. With 80% of jobs placed through professional networks, who can’t use a few good contacts?
- Bill
April 3, 2009 at 1:10 am
Have used Twitter for nearly two years… it’s a newswire feed these days. At one time it was about keeping in touch with people you knew and meeting a few new people. Networking still comes down to building relationships vs. playing random numbers. But, it’s icreasingly difficult to respect a platform that still lacks a viable business model.
April 2, 2009 at 5:16 pm
Okay John, I read your blog post and I get that you’re a not-so-secret Twitter fan. I’m trying to work up some enthusiasm for this media but I am having a hard time convincing myself it’s a worthwhile exercise. Here’s my concern. Granted, following certain people and hearing their thoughts on what’s happening in the world today is a fascinating concept. Their tweets are probably largely worth reading and having read. It’s the enormous quantity of mental white noise that goes along with these nuggets that I question. Not only do I not want to encourage anyone to indiscriminately share their thoughts with hundreds or thousands of others, I don’t want to add my own mental waste to the flood. Even more to the point, I don’t want to dedicate large amounts of time to it. How much time do you spend tweeting? Is it another technology that encourages you to social multi-task and thus be discourteous to others? Of the thousands of tweets you have read and written, what percentage have actually increased your knowledge or understanding of important issues and how many have simply told you that your college roommate is getting their hair cut or contemplating a coffee run?
April 2, 2009 at 5:33 pm
Jim, all great questions. For Twitter you get back what you put into it. What I mean is:
- You are always fine tuning who you want to follow based upon the experience you want to have. I follow a little more than 100 people but I use TweetDeck to organize people into groups . This enables me to more efficiently scan for information I care about, reading only what I want. Total time throughout the day? Probably a half hour now, early on more as I was figuring out how to organize the data.
- In terms of time spent Tweeting, it varies from day to day. I have always been a voracious reader of RSS feeds and tech magazines, so nothing added there. The additional time spent is determining if it’s something I feel others would find interesting. I’d guess I spend, at most, an extra 15 minutes a day figuring that out (high-end).
It’s like any new tool, however. You have to have discipline in how you use it and, if it does not add value to your day, drop it. Note, however, it took me about a month before I felt that it was adding value. The first month was stubborn persistence. Not always my best quality.
It is tough to determine the ratio of useful tweets to tweets I completely ignore. I’d guess 5 – 10% of the tweets are valuable. Since I am in scan mode to find the good stuff it’s worth it.
Let me know what you think.
John
April 2, 2009 at 2:42 pm
I think you’re very close minded and in a minority. I have found Twitter to be useful so far. I get instant updates and information on stories that may take hours to show up on the internet or a BLOG. I do think you need to use it with a Filter on but this is the information age and if you are trying to keep up to date in a particular job field or trying to get people to read your BLOG, (irony) it is a great tool. There are many ways you can use Twitter, but the reality is, you don’t have to. So if you want to remain in a closed off world, alone playing World of Warcraft in a dark basement, then good luck.
April 2, 2009 at 2:45 pm
It’s clear that not everyone understands that this post is meant to be a little sarcastic. If you read the post that I link to you’ll see that I do love Twitter and actually feel everyone should use it.
Sorry for the confusion but it has made for some interesting responses.
John