In the comments a few posts down, valeko asked whytf he should care about Twitter. I started writing a comment in reply, but it got long, so I figured I’d just make a separate post.
I was anti-Twitter until I learned more about it and, then, started using it. One area where I see it being really useful is in telling your friends where you are, so they can come meet you if they want. Like when Rusty and I go out, one of us will Twitter (for example), “At Manuel’s.” You can also use it to tell people if you’re running late! Of course, this assumes that everyone uses the SMS feature; personally I just use it on the computer (for now, anyway).
Twitter proved very useful at large events such as SXSW, SoCon07, PodCamp Atlanta, and PodCamp NYC, where there were a lot of people scattered in various places. For example, at PodCamp NYC, lost-and-found items were Twittered. I lost a card reader, and a guy sent out a tweet saying, “If you find an SD card reader bring it to the help desk.” (No one ever found it, but still, cool usage. Someone else did retrieve their lost iRiver that way, though.)
Another use… up to the minute news updates. CNN uses it for that. But on a non-MSM level - just think of the tweets that were going out during the VA Tech crisis, for example. Look up NewMediaJim’s tweets from last week… it’s fascinating stuff.
Also, Twitter just appeals to my voyeuristic side - and I think most people have that streak in them, to an extent. Especially when it’s friends or people you at least know (or know of) IRL. It’s just interesting, to me, to see what they’re doing! Very much like blogging, in that regard.
Most recently, Rusty and I had fun asking and answering questions via Twitter while we recorded a podcast. We plan to make this a regular feature on our show.
What about the rest of you, blog readers? Why do you like (or dislike) Twitter?
READ ME: Disclaimer
7 Responses to "Why I’m now happily part of the Twitter farm"
I like it in theory - but I only have two ‘twitter’ friends. It’s a useful thing the bigger your network is.
It just seems like a very marginal feature to base an entire model of business and functionality on. When it comes down to it, when all is said and done, it’s just a web page with “status messages” and a few inter-media hooks.
As per a conversation I was having with a friend on this subject, I think the sort of paradigm into which Twitter may be theoretically alluding is somewhat interesting. It’s the same basis to which “unified messaging” in the telecom world is spoken; creating an abstraction layer for “presence” and contactability with hooks into a large variety of devices, endpoints, services, platforms, and protocols. But, that’s not what I see Twitter doing right now or in the foreseeable future, which is why it baffles me.
It also remains to be seen, in my view, whether the aforementioned ambition will be stifled by increasing consolidation in the web 2.0 world, mirroring the sort of sentiment voiced by Trillian in relation to the instant messenging continuum.
Or in other words, I’m a little lost as to what value it creates as a service given that the social networking experience it offers is not very comprehensive, and the feature it implements is something that is widely present in everything from instant messenger “away messages” to “status messages” on social networking sites like Facebook.
Well, I just explained the “value it creates” for me, at least. Nothing more I can say, really. Like anything else, it’s not going to be for everyone.
You were at PodCampNYC? Bummer! My SO’s woudl have loved to have met you (as would I).
BTW - twitter kicks ass.
Hmmm…since I seem to only use technology when I must, I think my perspective will naturally be different. I can see why you would like it, for all the reasons you listed, but to me it kind of seems like overkill. Personally, I hate the thought of telling people where I am (I even resent that I’m SO accessible via cell phone). And honestly, as much as I love and adore you, I don’t really care what ANYONE is doing every minute of the day. (Not even Craig Ferguson…she adds for emphasis.)
But clearly some people do. :-) Twitter away.
Also, I find it highly amusing that there are at least four terms in your original post that I have NO idea what they are. :-)
Must return to the (seemingly endless) realm of packing…
Oh Jenny don’t lie! You KNOW that you REALLY want to know when I’m taking a crap!
(Don’t worry. I haven’t Twittered from the shitter. Yet.)
As for it being amusing that there are at least four terms you don’t know… amusing? Or just evidence of my unabashedly ever-increasing nerditude?
Leave a comment