I am the anti twit, at least that’s what they’re calling me. I am the only one in the office not on Twitter and not really sure I see the point of it. I’m not sure what I would say that would be worth “following.”
This past Monday we were in New York City, Trenton, NJ and Philadelphia all in one fell swoop. New York happened so fast it was a blur. Brian Williams was twittering in the back seat, ‘on our way to Philly, pouring rain, don’t think we’ll make it in time,’ ‘On the NJ transit, bumpy ride.’
That day was silly and adventurous all at the same time and worthy, as far as I can tell, of twittering. Every five minutes we were doing something different.
But every day’s not like that. What do i say, ‘Just had my morning Diet Coke, ready to face the day.’ Do tweets really care? Still, I do realize I’m missing out by not engaging with a community.
I have a Facebook and LinkedIn profile, do I really need to Twitter? All week I have been told that I should think about it, from Brian to Kami Huyse to Geoff to Larissa.
So I’m thinking about it.
In 2008, that is my first dilemma, to twit or not to twit.
Yes. But only if you mix it up, and create a different network than Geoff and Larissa.
I like to mix it up. That’s good advice, thanks.
Yes, to twit.
Actually, I enjoy Twitter most for the opportunity to converse with my Twitter buddies as much as I do for just telling my random thoughts. Like all social media tools the compelling elements of Twitter are identity and connection. When you do actually join, add me and we can connect – that’s what I love and the social web.
http://twitter.com/madhavaji
I’ll definitley let you know if I come on board. You could be my first follower.
Twitter is one of those “try it, you’ll like it” apps. In fact, it’s a “you won’t know if you’ll like it until you try it” app. So, give it a try.
I just noticed no Privacy info on Twitter Adder. Be careful before you use this. sorry. just wanted to be sure.
I used to be in the same boat as you on the whole Twitter thing. I didn’t really see the point and wondered what I would Tweet about? Now that I’ve been on Twitter for a couple of months though, I can say that I now realize the value in Twitter. In a way, it acts like a more sophisticated search engine that is tailored to my personality. You see, if you only follow people that share a similar personality or view on certain issues, then you can ask your Twitter followers a question, much like you might ask a search engine. But, instead of bringing you search results based on keywords and number of links, you get feedback from a group of like minded people who are very similar to you. I find that any time I query my Twitter followers, the results are much better suited to my needs than merely asking Google.
http://www.twitter.com/jonray
Michele,
As a productivity guy (that’s what my company preaches) I’d been torn for a long time about Twitter. After all, it seems to be the antithesis of getting things done. I’ve been trying it now for a couple weeks, and I have mixed feelings.
It IS one more place to check.
It IS somewhat silly what we often write.
It CAN feel like a high school cafeteria than a blog or other, more thought out, discussion environment
While I’ve met a lot of people in the last six months who are on Twitter, few of my longstanding friends are on Twitter. As such, it brings up the classic question of entering a new online community–to invest your time to build relationships or to just stay on the sidelines? That is, if I stay on the sidelines, I won’t get out of it what the others have commented above–people won’t respond to my inquiries. No, really.
Sorry to be a downer, but at this point I don’t feel the Twitter-love. And I don’t know that my personality has lent itself to random one-liners. Or that I care enough about them. For instance, Brian’s comments from the car may have been interesting but they felt more “had to be there” than thought provoking or valuable in and of themselves. I’m not knocking Brian in the least (with or without Twitter, he’s an awesome guy)–I’m just questioning what percentage of the comments are like that and whether that’s more noise or signal to people in the Twitter community.
I’m going to continue using Twitter for the time being, but only because I want to build more relationships with the people on the site. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to sit with the cool kids in high school at some point, or at least that I’ll find more responses to questions. In the mean time, there’s at least something to be said for the occasional words of wisdom and up-to-the-minute status on the world-at-large.
My apologies for a double post, but, to follow the crowd, here’s my Twitter link:
http://twitter.com/setjared
Jared — Thanks for your comments. Insightful, and nice to hear from someone who’s doing it and not in love with it. I’m quite torn on it but if I decide to do it, I’m going hit the ground running in 2008. I appreciated your comments and will check you out on Twitter.
Jon, that’s good to know. Thanks. I never looked at it like that, I kind of still think about it like passing notes in high school. Thanks for your input.
Thanks Paul. I’ll have to let you know if I give it a whirl.
I share your ambivalence. I have gotten some questions answered, I’ve announced some of my own blog posts, but I also see Twitter being used increasingly as another publicity/feedback channel by social media elites. Nothing wrong about that — we all have to pay attention to opinion leaders — but I’m finding other channels more productive for developing relationships, especially with people who belong to other “communities.”