How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Twitter
Tuesday, July 21, 2009 by anna
In today's lecture Luke talked about the love/hate relationship we often have with technology. Noting that more than a few people seemed to be pretty unimpressed with Twitter I thought I'd kick off my first blog post with a few thoughts on Twitter and why I love it, but can completely understand why others hate it.
Twitter is often dismissed as an constant flow of mindless chatter; social networking taken to the limits of banality. At first glance, Twitter does look like nothing more than a stream of status updates -- Facebook, stripped down to "I AM..." paired with the impetus to collect as many friends as possible. Certainly that was my first impression. I signed up to Twitter sometime last year, but just couldn't understand the point of it all. Didn't I already waste enough time online trying to keep up with emails and IMs and Facebook messages and Googling every unanswered question that comes to mind without yet another Tamagotchi-like time waster?
What finally converted me to Twitter was the realisation that although it is a kind of social networking tool, it works in a very different way to Facebook, for example. Twitter (to me) is first and foremost a microblogging tool. I subscribe to authors (Tweeters) who interest me, and in turn I'm followed by people who (for whatever reason) have decided to follow my Tweets. Whereas I consider Facebook to be personal and private, my Twitter account is completely public and not entirely anonymous. I've found Twitter to be a useful networking tool though, but not in a personal sense. I've used it to gather information and intelligence, often reading news on Twitter before I pick it up on news sites or on TV (although accuracy is not guaranteed). Thanks to Twitter I've received technical advice, proactive customer service and have been mightily entertained. And unlike my Facebook or email account, I never feel guilty when I go a few days without logging in.
That's how I use Twitter, but the real value of Twitter and one of the reasons it's really taken off recently, is that users are finding their own uses for Twitter. Twitter has been used to quit smoking; to check on traffic; to water plants; and to protest.
Here are a few tips for Twitter newbies:
1. Try following people or things you're interested rather than looking for friends.
2. Use the search function in Twitter - try using some of the terms you encounter in Technoculture and New Media
2. Don't worry about all the things you missed since you last logged on - Twitter is about what's happening right now.
3. If you're going to Tweet, make it informative. Share information that's more universally interesting than what you're having for lunch.
4. Learn the art of micro-blogging. What can you say (that's worth saying) in 140 characters or less?
5. Twitter has its own grammar and etiquette. Read a how-to guide before you start.
I agree with you, I don't feel that Twitter is a friend networking site, it is more a way of following things you are interested in. On my Twitter I follow Al Gore, Barack Obama, and other public figures, simply to read their updates. It is interesting to see what meetings or goals Obama has for each day.
I liked this piece about Twitter... and chuckled at the first couple of mins of Colbert's piece on the Goldblum saga.
I can't resist posting this Twitter timeline too. http://ow.ly/hJVM
twitter does have many celebs on it but how do we know if it is really them updating their status or just their army of p.r reps who are trying to keep up a type of image?
just making an assumption here but im sure some celebs (and 'ordinary' folk) would probably have separate accounts for fans and some that only frnds or family would know about. maybe?
twitter can be relatively anonymous in the sense that the username and display picture have no relation to the 'real' person.
personally i do not follow twitter but i have been on the site for research and to compare it to other networking sites. so correct me if i got anything wrong please.