I’ve been holding out from getting a Twitter account for years. Recently, my resistance has been slipping because:
- Twitter users transmit news faster than the news wires. Case study: Wednesday’s L.A.-area earthquake.
- There are tons of Twitter tools out there to play with, such as twhirl and summize.
- It’s beautiful in its simplicity.
- It’s like IM from your phone and SMS from your computer all at once.
- Many of my favorite bloggers use it and recommend it. (e.g. here, here and here.)
But then again…
- I’ve already got a couple hundred friends on Facebook, and I can use my status message as a tweet.
- Do I really need one more social networking account out there?
- I have a hard enough time keeping up on my RSS feeds!
- For news, how reliable is information provided via Twitter? Case in point: Subway Jared’s nondemise.
- I’m doing everything I can to maintain a longer attention span; I can’t see Twitter helping that.
So, who out there loves to Twitter? Who else is holding out?
I had been holding out until a few week ago. I had held off mainly ’cause, as you say, I have so much info through RSS feeds and the like. Joining Friendfeed helps to keep on top.
But Twitter is fascinating. I’m connecting with really interesting people in ways i would not have otherwise. Last weekend I watched a sports match live on TV, and shared the event over Twitter with people sread over two continents and three cites. It really added to the emotional connection.
Social media is also of increasing interest to me as a professsonal strategic thinker. Being engaged is part of the research process.
Posted by Paul Roberts on July 31st, 2008.
Thanks for the thoughtful comment, Paul. I have seen Friendfeed mentioned as a savior service.
I share your thoughts on staying engaged as part of the research process. I have this gut feeling that Twitter or something like it will play a bigger role in the way journalists work in the near future. Identifying the model and the routines is what’s missing now.
Posted by Zahler on July 31st, 2008.
[...] Internet, Social networks | Tags: Internet culture, social networking | Interesting posting here from Andrew Zahler on whether to hop on the Twitter bandwagon or not. Andrew outlined five good [...]
Posted by To tweet or not to tweet « Convergence Emergence on July 31st, 2008.
I’m still holding out, mostly for your reasons 1, 2 and 3. I worry at times that as I spend more time with online social networking, I spend less time with face-to-face socializing and networking. Both have their place, but I don’t want to spend all my hours staring at a computer screen.
Posted by Sara on August 4th, 2008.
I held out for a long time, too, and I was very insistent on it. I really thought there was no way I’d find it useful.
But I decided to give it a one-month trial, and I ended up surprising myself by loving it. I found there were a lot of great conversations happening, both in my local community and among journalists from across the country. I felt better educated in both areas.
I’d recommend doing what I did: Give it a serious one-month try. I blogged about it several times if you want to see my mind changing on it.
Posted by Daniel Victor on August 5th, 2008.