A LOT of blog posts have been written questioning the value of Twitter. A lot. I know. So move on if you aren’t interested in reading another. But, I think (hope) mine has a slightly different slant.
Many proponents of twitter will argue that they get value by following like-minded individuals, mining through the worthless tweets (“I’m at the grocery store!”) for the valuable nuggets (“Oh, to fix that, just do x”). And I agree there is value like this to be had on Twitter.
However, the greatest value I get from Twitter is the community. I work in IT. IT departments can be small. Mine is. We’re well-suited to the size of our company, but still, there’s only three of us. I am the only developer (as I may have mentioned about 50 times on this blog). Twitter provides me with a virtual water cooler. A place where I can vent about silly, but frustrating things TO PEOPLE WHO UNDERSTAND. Seriously, if I said half of the things I say on Twitter to people “in real life”, they would look at me like I have two heads. Or at the very least, their eyes would glaze over, they would mumble something incoherent and walk away.
Twitter is a place where I can “hear” about other people’s similar frustrations. We can all laugh about stupid end users (not mine, of course, users of my applications are all brilliant). I can vent and rant, and read other people’s vents and rants. I can be frustrated and tired and not thinking clearly and tweet about it and get back six snarky and hilarious replies. The value of Twitter is that I can laugh and move on, get back to work refreshed and ready.
Seriously, isn’t that incredibly valuable to a company? Rather than pumping me full of crappy coffee in the hopes that I can caffeinate my way through the day, we should have mandatory Twitter breaks.
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'xactly. nice post, @kjbrown13! ;-)
ReplyDeleteHey if Twitter works for you, then it works for you but can't those same people be available via, Linked in or Facebook or any of the other ways we already had to communicate?. I tried to find value in twitter but I failed. I concluded that twitter is the latest,greatest fad and will fade to obscurity just like My Space. I have to agree with this guy....
ReplyDeletehttp://www.joethepeacock.com/2009/03/ultimate-guide-to-twitter.php
That post was amusing and had some points, Twitter may very well be the Paris Hilton of technology, who knows? For me personally, I like to keep Facebook more for my personal connections than work-related connections (and honestly, I rarely even check Facebook anymore, if someone sends me one more #$%&ing quiz or fake beer or whatever, I may lose it).
ReplyDeleteLinkedIn seems too professional. At least when I first got on there. You have to request someone as a connection, wait to be approved. Like facebook, but for your boss.
I like Twitter for the casual-ness of it. I can follow someone and they can choose to follow me, if they want. Whatever, no big deal. There's more of a banter, a back and forth. I think it ALL depends on who you follow. If you're following a bunch of people who are JUST tweeting about their trip to the grocery store, then yeah, you're not going to get much value out of it, unless you're really into grocery stores. ;)
I started using Twitter for a different reason, but quickly found that what you stated is the absolute truth. As Curt points out above, this is not the case for everyone. My wife finally joined and after a few months has found little value in it. I think this all stems from the community that you follow/follow you. We, the "Lotus community", for lack of a better name, have a leg-up on others because we have been communicating via blogs for a decade or more. Twitter has only increased the response time.
ReplyDeleteYup ...I don't post on Twitter (or Facebook, my blogs, etc) nearly as often as I'd like ...but Twitter IS the easiest way to quickly see what my Lotus peeps are up to, to glean some tidbits of brilliant knowledge, and to stay semi-connected to a group of folks whom I consider to be friends just as much (in some cases more) than the folks I see more often in person.
ReplyDeleteI *LIKE* that idea about mandatory Twitter breaks. Might have to try that. I don't smoke, and I drink the coffee at the desk, so a couple of Twitter breaks each day makes sense.
Here's to sanity! ...however fleeting or feigned it may be :-D
So Venting frustration is productive? News to me. I'm not a twitter fan, but I do find it useful when productive websites like smashingmagazine.com and NetTuts put some of their information that doesn't make it into their normal posts. I find alot of good information that way.
ReplyDeleteMy opinion is if you're following other sites that are being productive, you'll pick up some of that information, but following individuals ranting and venting frustrations is pointless.
I find venting productive in the way that if I didn't vent, I might say something I shouldn't, to someone I shouldn't, and get myself fired. It may not be "productive" in the traditional sense, but being unemployed is definitely NOT productive. :)
ReplyDelete@Anonymous - being able to vent, to people who grok you, is EXTREMELY productive. Reading the vents of others whom you grok is likewise productive. I understand the whole "bitching without providing a solution is pointless" way of looking at things -I just disagree with it.
ReplyDeleteReading other people's vents provides a feeling of community for me. I may not have the same problems they are having, but I can understand them.
That being said, I still think twitter, facebook, etc are all time vampires. It doesn't mean I don't use them (I do) -but my primary usage is for venting.
I realize that is a weird dichotomy, but that's just how things are.
I just went to the washroom.
ReplyDeleteIt has its value but there is way too much noise.
ReplyDeleteFor the record, I have NEVER seen someone tweet that they went to the washroom. And, I probably contribute my share of noise, but I just tune out the noise. Someone (and I'm sorry I forget who) said it best, it's like a party - not everything you hear is going to be interesting, but you still go because SOMETHING will be interesting, and you'll probably have fun!
ReplyDelete@Devin - "time vampire" - I love it! :)
ReplyDelete