If you haven’t heard about it yet, or if you’ve heard the name but don’t get it, you’re not alone, but coming to a feed/ inbox/ MSM article near you: Twitter.
Twitter is allegedly blogging meets TXT, a sort of cut down bare bones blogging platform that allows users to briefly update (max 140 characters) other people with details of their current activities.
Posts can be made via the Twitter website, mobile phone TXT messages or via a rather small and limited choice of IM clients.
Twitter has also become the must use service amongst the thought leaders in blogging and Web 2.0. Scoble, Rubel are just two names currently hyping Twitter, but even Scoble himself finds the buzz amazing (despite the fact he’s helping lead it)
(Twitter page: http://twitter.com/Scobleizer/statuses/6799461)
I’ve been taking in the hype over the last couple of weeks and I can list the advantages of the platform: it’s allegedly quicker than blogging (they haven’t seen my try to type on my Nokia :-) ), it supports TXT updates (outgoing) so you get the latest news on your phone, it’s less formal…
And yet I still don’t fully get the appeal of the service.
We already live in a feature and content rich society in which information overload isn’t theory, it’s an every day problem. Why then would sane people want to add yet another layer of information input when most of us struggle to cope as it is? As a contributer to the site, why would I want to post my every thought to Twitter when doing so takes me away from doing work of more substance? As a content creator why would I want to create content that only benefits a 3rd party site? after all Twitter is a hosted solution, not a platform like WordPress. As a reader, do I really want to know or even care about the latest off the cuff thought from Robert Scoble or other users for that matter? sure they might be handy in building a psychological profile, but for entertainment or information value?
Perhaps it’s just me. I’ve struggled to understand the value of MySpace for years, and yet I know it has value, 150 million + users can’t be wrong, but is Twitter my next MySpace? Share your thoughts, and sell me on why Twitter is the best thing since sliced bread.
Originally posted on March 11, 2007 @ 5:39 pm
Martin Neumann says
I won’t sell you on Twitter, Duncan … as I’m in your boat: I think I need more selling on this one as well.
Pamela says
Teens, I guess, will love it to TXT en masse and, I suppose it might have it’s uses in collaborative projects, where team members need to know what the others are up to, without the need to “pollute” their blogs with minor comments that are of an admin nature. Bit like the old “in and out” boards that used to be in some offices. No, maybe nobody (except me) remembers them! Otherwise, I signed up to see what it was and left again promptly, because I couldn’t see the need. Actually, I came here now hoping that you would enlighten me to the point I’d missed, but I’m just as glad to know that I wasn’t the only one to be baffled by it. :)
Ben Barren says
i think it’s a pass of least resistance thing if u take out hype and look at longer term adoption. basically i dont have to craft an essay with hyperlinks. images, embedded code. its 140 characters max, from your phone and web. and the killa for me is the simplicity of it can publish to my blog and i can twttr while at supermarket, waiting in line, etc and noone is expecting an opus, just a vignette. that u can customise your page, phone settings, use sms/im/web/has great UI/use by digerati is just icing. long term i could see it as “just another” feature within blogging and UGC sites. ie it’s “just” another entry type.. dare i say microformat if i was to use that term broadly.. its quicker and easier. thats it.
Ben Barren says
that would be path of least resistance.
Everton says
I totally agree with you guys, I really can’t see the value of it and I’ve found the constant hype by some uberbloggers very strange
Andy Beard says
It is an IM which 1000s of people can overhear and you can use from almost anywhere.
A few blogs use asides rather than speed linking , or include their delicious bookmanrks in their feeds.
I wouldn’t use it to tell people what I just ate, unless it was some kind of special recommendation for a restaurant.
I am sure the usage will evolve into more useful content
John Evans (Syntagma) says
It appeals to egotists, Duncan, who think their every thought should be posted in the sky in letters of fire a mile high.
Clearly, neither you nor I are egotists. ;-)
Chris says
Where I find it useful is group settings. For example, if I’m out partying I can txt Twitter with my location, where I’m going next, etc. and all my friends subbed to my Twitter txt msgs. will get that update.
This is also handy when you have a group of coworkers out of town for a meeting/conference. It lets everyone communicate about where they are or what they are up to.
A friend that travels to Silicon Valley fairly often told me Twitter is the source of many impromptu meetings since people are using it to say things like “at Starbucks on Ocean Blvd.” and others that are nearby will stop by.
I don’t think of Twitter as blogging-like but more about location and coordination.
kate farber says
duncan, i completely agree with you! i’ve been reading the hype and have visited the site many-a-time only to get there and realize (or remember) it is not intriguing to me. will keep an eye on it and see how many more times i need to check it out before getting sucked in.
lonelybloggers says
Duncan – I agree with you on this one. Easy to replicate, nothing that screams out new and exciting.. Lotta hype for nada
Kevin says
It’s more like an IM away message than microblogging. Think presence…
Deepak says
I have an account (for the second time). I deleted my first one in 24 hours, since I didn’t get it. Not sure I still do. As such I only “follow” people in the same town as I am in and ideally close friends (i.e. my posts would not be public). For now they are, but if I could give you a good reason, I could run for office.
omar m says
http://www.froodz.com/profiles
This been around long enough to clone ?
Early twitter clone from ex-CTO of mfoundry.com (mWorks platform).
Rita Wilhelm says
Just started twittering myself. Looked to see if Guy Kawasaki was twittering and he was. I chose to follow him, and almost immediately he started following me. I’m of course one of almost 10,000 people he is following… so of course he would never see a thing I wrote. Still… interesting. The big question is Why? Why are we doing this? And Why am I addicted? Is it a fad that will have a quick death? Is it to see how many people we can get to follow us? ( Like some ego thing?)