The Debate Over Twitter
May 16th, 07 | 3 remarksI’ve never really used (or understood) Twitter, and apparently I’m not the only one. I’ve freely said before that it seems like a time-waster, and utterly pointless. Why should I monitor the incessant, aimless chatter of strangers about what they’re doing at any given moment? Does it affect me? My community? My world? That would be a resounding NO.
And if I want to know what a friend is doing, I’ll text or IM that person. Here’s the thing though… I don’t need to know what my friends are doing all day, and I don’t feel the need to post them about every move I make either. I’m confident in speaking not just for myself but my friends too, when I say we all have better things to do.
These were my sentiments up until today, when I happened across a post by Matt, talking about the benefits of Twitter. He had some excellent examples of how individuals could collaborate on an unofficial basis, and produce something truly useful - in a remarkable time frame. While his examples do sound compelling, I wonder how often it really happens.
In part, I still think Twitter functions less as a mental-break enabler, and more as a huge distraction. But after reading Matt’s post I was forced to reevaluate it a bit, or at least admit there’s potential usefulness to it. I’m certainly a little more open to ideas for its use as a tool. So I’m curious now… do you use Twitter… and how?
I suppose I shouldn’t trash a product without trying it personally myself, but Twitter does seem like a complete waste of time to me too!
I wonder how many people who gave the “leave your emails until the end of the day” productivity tip then waste hours Twittering instead!
All this seems like to me is a slightly slicker rehash of the old-style Java chatrooms…
May 16, 07 | 1:13 pmI know what you mean about trying something before bashing it. I actually created an account a couple weeks back just to see what all the fuss was about. I tried to be objective… but I guess it’s just not my cup of tea. ;)
May 16, 07 | 3:31 pmI only heard of Twitter recenty and to be honest from the website I couldn’t actually understand what it was about. Some one told me what it did, and like you I thought - what on earth would I want to do that for. But I guess Matt’s post does reveal the answer, it can work similarly to a forum I guess but more immediate.
May 19, 07 | 10:16 am