I’m cursed with re-assessing things, always have been. The most obvious manifestation of that is my near constant back and forth between different types of computers and keyboards, but lately I’ve been turning my compulsion towards the services I use online.
Twitter – you’re outta here. When I first heard about Twitter I hated the idea and refused to use it. In fact, it was only when a bunch of colleagues and customers started using it to schedule things for PostieCon in Vegas last year that I really got into the service. It’s addictive. But, it’s not addictive for the right reasons (if there can indeed be good reasons for an addiction).
Twitter is compelling for the same reason going on stage is compelling. It’s all about you. You ‘tweet’ something and you’re the center of attention. You are thrusting some morsel of ’self’ in front of everyone that follows you and they have no choice but to at least glance at it. That’s probably why Twitter makes a lot of sense from a corporate marketing standpoint. On a personal level though it’s completely self serving, self centered and somewhat egotistical.
When I write a blog post, I put thought into it. I try (and often fail) to put the same level of attention into my blog posts that I would into an article or book. I try to ‘write’ something, to use as much of the craft of writing that I have developed through 14 books to produce something of value. Whether you hate it or love it, agree with me or think I’m a muppet, I try to get something engaging out in a blog post that’s not totally self serving. WIth Twitter’s limit of only 140 characters I end up just spewing crap, and I see other’s doing the same.
“My back hurts”, “My political view is xyz”, “I like dogs” – honestly, who gives a shit? When you write you need to engage the reader and Twitter’s not at all about that. It’s about getting people to back slap you for doing something good, or for getting sympathy because you’re in some way lacking that kind of support in your home life.
As I said at the start of this piece, I do see a good case for Twitter in business. It’s a great way to engage a community, to give them an inside scoop on what’s going on behind the scenes of their favorite brands. On a personal level it’s just far too much about “look at me, look at me”. Honestly, it makes me angry more than it makes me smile.
I’m probably just growing into a grumpy old man but watching tweets from people that should be working pointing out ‘interesting’ articles on the Internet just leaves me grinding my teeth. ‘Hearing’ tweets from people that are unwell, but well enough to go online to broadcast their illness in the hopes of being coddled makes the hairs on my neck stand up. In fact, just having to go and ‘look’ at the tweets from people drives me insane. It’s like being compelled to pick up the phone and order something from QVC because the infomercial was well produced enough to brainwash you into losing all self control and self determination.
So, bye bye Twitter. I’ll probably change my mind and drag my butt back there in about six months time, but for now at least I’ll look to see if there is some service that encourages creativity and thought more than mindless drivel.
Wow, Pete, you’re sounding particularly grumpy today.
Saying Twitter exists to be an egocentric platform for people who otherwise wouldn’t get any attention is like saying that PayPerPost exists to pollute the blogosphere. Sure, you have cases where this happens, but it’s a small portion of the majority and a very big mislabeling of the product.
I’ve been off and on about Twitter myself, but it’s never been because I’ve gotten sick of the “egotisticalness” of it. I don’t know who you are friends with but most of the people I follow on twitter have interesting posts at least 90% of the time. Following some of the ‘power people’ in the industry has helped me keep up with the latest goings-on, from jeresig’s posts about Tracemonkey and other javascript news (it’s how I found out about jQuery camp) to local events and interesting links. And following my friends helps gain insight on their lives even though they are (in many cases) hundreds or even thousands of miles away.
Sure, sometimes people like to post about their illness, or something personal, but why are you getting so pissy about this? If you are following someone, chances are you care about them, right? If not, why are you following them? This “if they are so sick why are they on the internet” mood you are in is worrysome – I would think that you know as well as any nerd that being under the weather is no reason to not be on the Internet – cuddling up with my laptop under some blankets is really the only thing I can do when I’m sick.
I can understand why you’re “off” the Twitter background, but your reasoning behind it make me think you need to take a happy pill. F’real.
Comment by Jade Rauenzahn — September 18, 2008 @ 12:38 pm |
I use twitter to update those who give a shit as to the status of what’s going on with me. If you are subscribing to someone’s tweets it’s because you are interested in what they have to say. If the message is annoying then unsubscribe and unfollow them. I know myself I have unfollowed many people who I “don’t give a shit” about. I look at twitter as something between email and IM. I don’t check twitter very often at all. People who are most important to me come through on my phone, other’s come through in my browser plugin. It’s all in how you use it. The same case could be made for everything from using facebook / myspace / social spark to blogging about the X number of books you have written
. People naturally want other people to notice them. Those who say otherwise are lying or socially inept.
Comment by Trevor Griffin — September 18, 2008 @ 1:54 pm |
I think we’re all saying the same thing. I expected to hear the points both of you made, Trevor and Jade, and they are totally valid.
Twitter is one of those revolutionary things where the medium is the message. It’s a platform that encourages rapid, almost mindless, brain dumps. I’m as guilty of it as anyone else. A facebook status on the other hand takes more effort, so the updates are less frequent and, I think, more profound in their meaning.
Of course I could just unfollow people. But why? People followed me, so I followed them back as it seemed to be the polite thing to do. The result, because of the way Twitter works is screenfuls of, mostly, crap. I have unfollowed particularly bad offenders from time to time, but the fact is, again, the medium is the message. I don’t watch Soap Operas at home. A Soap Opera is mindless drivel, chewing gum for the mind. It’s all too easy to get totally absorbed in them and devote vast chunks of time to them, but for what purpose? They don’t make me smarter. They are not personal. They don’t in any way educate or inform, and by and large neither does Twitter.
As I said in the post I see a lot of value in Twitter for corporations. Twitter is a perfect tool for spreading and building brand awareness. Wouldn’t it be awesome to see each of the team leads at Apple or Microsoft twittering their progress. The problem though, and it’s a problem the medium itself exacerbates, is staying on topic.
Comparing Twitter though to a book, or a magazine article, or even a blog I think is wildly off base. All have a theme and a core topic. You read each of those things because you have a genuine interest in the topic or author. At Twitter you log on and see everything from everyone. You don’t go to Twitter to read ‘Twitter’. You go there to peek into a collective mire. If someone goes to your blog they expect to read posts in your voice on your topic (be that your home life, computers, raising Llamas – whatever). If you pick up a book in the store and make a solid commitment through the exchange of cash to take it home with you, you do so under the expectation of a certain type of content, and in a certain style. Twitter is like opening that book and every second sentence is written by a million authors all talking about different things.
What Twitter is good at, excellent at in fact, is being a delivery mechanism, an ingredient in other services like FriendFeed. You can take your tweets, and then with FriendFeed publish them elsewhere. Twitter, in effect, delivering content into venue on topic. I’m intensely interested in what Ted Murphy has to say, but I’ll read his tweets via his friend feed. I go to that feed because right now I’m interested in Ted. Nothing else. And it’s a feed put in context of everything else. If I were writing a book, I’d build a friendfeed including Tweets on the book and host it somewhere. If you take the time to come to that website it’s because you have a genuine interest so the blog posts, pictures, videos, research notes and tweets are all of value.
But, at the end of the day, it’s all personal and all subjective. I expose very little of my personal life anywhere (including this blog – hands up those of you that know I have a pilot’s license, that I’m a classically trained musician, or that I’m deeply interested in cognitive behavior therapy?), so to me Twitter feels like being shy on a nudist beach. If you’re going to do it, you have to really be into it, really in tune with it, and really an advocate of all that it represents. Your comments on this blog post show that. I would rather reach out to my friends through far more personal means, like a phone call, a letter or even an email. Tweeting something is like broadcasting it with a megaphone and how many times has someone you cared for told you they love you with a megaphone?
Twitter is entertaining at times, but for me, for the majority of time, it’s a soap opera and I can literally feel my mind melting as I read it. It also damages my skills as a writer. I read 1 to 2 books a week, and I make a conscious effort to write 2000 words a day, every single day, because that’s a skill I don’t want to lose. Twitter, to me anyway, is as damaging to our collective abilities to socialize, create, compose and interact as text messaging is, so I *choose* not to follow anyone, and not to use the service.
Comment by pwrighta — September 18, 2008 @ 4:09 pm |
I think you make some really valid points in the above post as it applies to you. But much like the Mac vs. PC debate you are damning the tool because it doesn’t fit your need.
A lot of people use a tool wrong. I may not be using it right but I’m using it right for me. I look at it as another form of communication. It’s a discussion or in most cases a discussion starter. I’ve gotten some very good info from it. I think part of the desire to use twitter comes with the burden of having to weed out the crap. Hey, it’s not for you and it’s cool. But I think your post applies more to you personally than it does the service as a whole. It’s fine to reevaluate and say “Hey this isn’t working for me. Let’s find something else.”. My response isn’t in hopes to bring you back to twitter, it’s a continuation of the discussion. I’ve had many discussions that started on twitter and moved into IM or Email or even a chat in person. Damning the whole network for the sake of the group (albeit a good number of people) doing it wrong, limits yourself. It’s like saying “I can and will only use Macintosh computers” while the Mac might be great for a lot of things you are missing out on the things the PC provides.
In the beginning of your article you state that you are cursed with re-assesing things. I see that as a good thing as you get the opportunity to broaden your horizons. Where I see it go wrong is that sometimes you re-assess, make a decision to go a different direction, and then completely abandon what you once held dear.
Comment by Trevor Griffin — September 18, 2008 @ 4:57 pm |
You nailed it when you said “your post applies more to you personally than it does the service as a whole”. That’s exactly right. It’s my personal blog
I’m not writing a book called “How to live without Twitter in 21 days” here.
Comment by pwrighta — September 18, 2008 @ 5:09 pm |
You are officially a grumpy old man.
I think you should just unfollow a few folks first and see how it goes. When I started twittering, I followed everyone who followed me, which is a bit like group sex – messy and sometimes unsatisfying. My list is down to under 30 now and I don’t hover over it all day long.
Comment by Colleen — September 18, 2008 @ 7:41 pm |
lulz @ colleen’s “group sex” comment. She’s exactly right. Sure, there’s a politeness factor into wanting to follow someone simply because they are following you; but in doing so you’re flooding your feed with people you don’t know and most likely don’t care about (which sounds meaner than it is).
I’ve been very reluctant with following back the random followers, as I don’t want the integrity of my friend feed lessened with ramblings of strangers. Might this hurt some really sensitive people’s feelings? Possibly (but who cares… you shouldn’t).
Comment by Jade Rauenzahn — September 23, 2008 @ 1:19 pm |
And to think I came by here to see why you weren’t tweeting! I guess we now know why. I hope your abstinence works out for you, even as you are missed. I still enjoy twitter, but there are days that it gets on my nerves,too. It gives me “Darting Eyes Syndrome” when I ought to be concentrating. Err, no. I allow it to cause DES, since the control of my eyes is firmly mine. In that respect, it’s a just another shiny thing.
OTOH, your post did remind me to be more careful about what I tweet.
OT3H, I now know you have a pilot’s license, are a classically trained musician, and are officially interested in cognitive behavior therapy (I had figured it, unofficially already).
OT4H, you feed is working again (it wasn’t when I last checked some time ago), so hopefully this will be my last late to the party comment.
OT5H, I am still Queen of the Parenthetical Comment.
OT6H, I have now tied up the hands of three people and I should stop. Dang, that would make a sweet tweet, but I’ll forebear for you.
Comment by Cass — October 18, 2008 @ 10:15 pm |