Thursday, October 30, 2008

Is puzzled about Twitter...

Really.
What's the point in telling everybody what you are up to...?
Where is the urgency in saying that it is raining today and you are so sad about it?

I understand how Twitter can be useful to release breaking news or maybe warn your social network about your being in real trouble (seriously.)...
Or, if you have a really hectic life that is worth being followed, go ahead, twitter too. (Look Barack Obama is so cool...).

But who would be interested in knowing I am actually eating a burrito (I'm not.)? Please if you have any clue about this, tell me...but If you are wondering about that too, check out Twitter in Plain English, I'm still not convinced, but it may work on you!

So I'd say companies who sell these burritos would probably be the only ones interested.
Twitter is yet another way of voluntarily informing companies about what you like and your habits of all kinds so that they can target you better or send you special limited offers. Another way of releasing private information to "the world" (even if completely irrelevant and shallow).

When applied to business, Twitter can be helpful (follow a co-worker on the move). But can you imagine being a CEO, informed about the evolution of the negociation on an important contract, via Twitter?

For private purposes, it can be nice to know if your friends are near you so that you can meet up more easily. But Twitter is like a Facebook limited to the status feature. In other words, my nigthmare. Most of the time, I never, NEVER want to know about what I read there (not because I don't care about people).
On the Twitter Home Page, Nicholas Carr, Author and Technologist was putting it this way :
Twitter is the telegraph system of Web 2.0.
Except that when we had only telegraphs, we used it to convey real messages and relevant content STOP. Let me refrase that... We used it to communicate STOP.

But a major concern about this tool came to my mind when I read this (here):
Twitter gets you behind doors. Your audience is eagerly logging in to check tweets from mid-day traffic, during board meetings and even on the toilet.



Our society is time-neurotic. Don't people ever want to rest or talk using more than 140 characters? Sometimes, I just miss the 20th century, when we could all be happy, talk for hours, do one thing at a time and not feel guilty about it. Remember?









Photo credit:
- http://twitter.com/BarackObama
- http://everythingandnothing.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/07/14/cartoon_twitter.gif
- http://talkitup.typepad.com/weblog/images/2008/05/05/twitter.jpg
- http://americanhell.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/Stalking-Twitter.gif
- http://www.yourseomentor.com/seo-cartoons/twitter1.jpg

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Have you seen the video that ProBlogger Darren Rowse put together of Twitterers twitting why they love Twitter?

Most of the arguments I've heard against Twitter (all of which make perfect sense) are the same arguments I once heard about blogging.

But Twitter is really so much more than just posting a status on what you're doing. The @reply function gives a direct interactivity to trusted resources, making it a great place for search - whether looking for something or wanting to be found. And I could go on, but Darren's video does a good job.
(warning: it runs a little fast to read at times)

Yooousif said...

I also, on the other hand, do not know enough about Twitter as I mentioned in my blog.

I agree, I find social networks such as facebook and maybe Twitter (as you mentioned) gather information about its users for business and advertising purposes. Moreover, some of the information that is being used on those networks are some what pointless to most of us. Information like : I am going to bed or I am happy or I am eating rice...

Nice post. We will learn more on Wednesday's class.

Yousssif

http://itec335.blogspot.com/

Redgrape said...

Lol, love the pictures on this blog post. I was really puzzled about twitter too. I really don't think its going to last, because as you said its really just facebook status updates with a little more word allowance. I think its only a matter of time until you see facebook get more like twitter on their status updating and then who would want to use twitter?

Unknown said...

wow! julie your post is always great. I really enjoy your post every week. I really agree with you that I do not want to know what my friends had for dinner!
I have lots of things to do rather than knowing trivial things.

yksorchid said...

Your post always makes me to rethink about what we're talking. Yes, I agree with your opinion. By using Twitter, I addicted it even though I knew it's time consuming and it's ridiculous to write 'what are you doing'. Sometimes, I think these sites connote many riskinesses revealing my privacy.

Jacques_pah said...

I love your illustrative images!