Why Does Anyone Like Twitter?
A few months ago, at the urging of Shawn Powers of Linux Journal, I created an @Penguicon Twitter account for Penguicon to use as an announcements channel. Many of the most tech-savvy people I know enjoy Twitter, so I wanted to give it a fair try. The popularity of Twitter defies explanation, because to me it seems to get four crucial things wrong. Ugly wrong. Almost as wrong as conceivably possible.
1. The uncomfortable process of tweeting
Except for those with sufficient income and/or credit rating and/or financial irresponsibility to own a swanky device with a keyboard on it. If I'm at my computer, I may as well blog. This leads to the next point.
2. The length, and therefore substance, of my tweets.
I have nothing to say in 140 characters or less. If I try to post a thousand words to Twitter, one sentence at a time, it would end up appearing backwards in my feed. Speaking of unreadable,
3. The cluttered and unthreaded process of reading the Twitter feeds of others.
My Twitter following list is even more unreadable. It contains one side of a conversation. Have you ever tried to get multiple sides of a Twitter conversation when half or more of it is someone whose Twitter feed you don't follow? But anyone I follow will broadcast their side of the conversation to me. It clutters up my feed and buries anything that actually might pertain to me in any way. This is an awful interface. It's worse than a pre-Gmail email client. Someone, please tell me how this is good.
4. The length, and therefore substance, of their tweets.
Because Twitter angers me every time I use it, I feel an emotional urge to make an angry totalizing statement like "If you like hearing what a crowd of strangers had for breakfast, your personal preference is wrong and bad." That would tick off several extremely valuable people for no good reason. Instead I will resist the urge, and say more accurately that it is a waste of my time.
I'm taking deep breaths and being reasonable about it, but ultimately I need to limit my exposure to preserve my well-being. I have handed off the @Penguicon Twitter account to someone who uses Twitter.
Comments
beamjockey on Jan. 10, 2009 8:22 PM
Somewhat cryptic throwaway line:
It's worse than a pre-Gmail email client.
If possible, please direct me to your essay on how Gmail perfected the art of the e-mail client.
stormgren on Jan. 10, 2009 9:55 PM
Heh. I'd love to hear that one too, as Gmail is nowhere near perfect.
matt-arnold on Jan. 10, 2009 10:23 PM
I should write that essay!
Short version, Gmail threads conversations. Mac Mail and Thunderbird, for instance, don't.
I can access Gmail from any computer, but not desktop email clients.
The tagging feature is tremendously helpful because emails are usually about more than one topic, so folders don't work well for me.
Finally, the search works incredibly fast and well. That's the short version.
Anonymous on Jan. 11, 2009 3:13 AM — Tweet
You realize, of course, that when we meet at Penguicon this year I'll have to immediately whip out my phone and tweet about it. :D
Anonymous on Jan. 11, 2009 3:43 AM — Re: Tweet
And, I replied to the wrong thread. Oops.
-Shawn
matt-arnold on Jan. 12, 2009 10:03 PM — Re: Tweet
I look forward to it!
wdonohue on Jan. 10, 2009 8:35 PM
I've talked about this same thing with a housemate - for me Twitter is a low-volume backchannel. It makes me feel somewhat connected, encourages me to start conversations, and sometimes provides valuable & timely bits of info I wouldn't get otherwise. If that sort of background data stream is annoying, Twitter is definitely not for you. Always use the tool that fits you and the task best.
-- Brian out --
tesral on Jan. 12, 2009 10:55 PM
I don't always wish to be connected. Sometimes, it feels good to be free of the phone the computer and all the gadgets. As much as I like my gadgets.
And I can't help but notice that the root of twitter is "twit".
wdonohue on Jan. 13, 2009 3:19 AM — Well, if I'm a twit
I'm just going to repeat my last two sentences: 'If that sort of background data stream is annoying, Twitter is definitely not for you. Always use the tool that fits you and the task best.' If you don't like it, if it doesn't fulfill any need you have, don't use it. I will grant that there is a lot of noise on Twitter, which is why I very carefully consider who I'm going to follow, and who I'm going to block.
-- Brian out --
Anonymous on Jan. 10, 2009 9:12 PM — Silly Matt
I don't work for Linux Weekly, I'm an editor at Linux Journal. :)
Twitter has its issues, I won't argue with you there. I tend to have it sitting in the background (via Twhirl) and follow those people/businesses/news_outlets that interest me. As one of the prominent folks at Linux Journal, I have a fair amount of followers, so if I pose a question, I get really helpful responses.
The usefulness really fails for me if I try to follow too many people. That's frustrating for people that follow me, because of course they want me to follow them back. It's a weird system, I'll freely admit.
At the very least, a tool like twitterfeed that "tweets" blog updates is nice for those that don't really want to add more feeds to their RSS reader. If @penguicon tweets a new blog post, I'm more apt to go view it than if it just sits in my 1000+ unread feeds in Google Reader.
Obviously, if it doesn't work for your style of communication, don't use it. For those of us that do, I urge you to at least set up twitterfeed so it sends some news to the world of Twitter. Like they say, it's impossible to communicate too much. :)
matt-arnold on Jan. 10, 2009 9:36 PM — Re: Silly Matt
Oops! How embarrassing! I've now corrected the name of your magazine.
Thanks for the feedback on the reasons for using Twitter. I can understand that.
moatn on Jan. 18, 2009 4:36 AM — Re: Silly Matt
As Jim Carrey's character in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind said, "Constantly talking isn't the same as communicating."
stormgren on Jan. 10, 2009 9:58 PM
As always, you somehow articulate what I've been thinking about something much better than I would.
Twitter drives me insane. I refuse to participate in something that's bound to make my ADD worse. I've already got enough distractions, I don't need another poorly constructed one. It's SMS culture at its worst
star-gazersusan on Jan. 10, 2009 10:36 PM
I've got a friend who posts to LJ using Twitter. During the holidays he'd post several items for a day. Twitter only puts then on LJ at the end of the day around midnight. I myself can't like that. I gave myself a month or two to try and get used to it, but it hasn't grown on me. But, I can see how others might like that.
n9uxu on Jan. 11, 2009 12:21 AM
Eh... It's useful enough for event reporting or giving an update on comic status, but not a lot more. To me, Facebook feels like what Twitter wants to be, but I prefer the longform of LJ. Now to crawl back into my hidey hole and kick this fever so that I can make the meeting tomorrow.
vakkotaur on Jan. 12, 2009 5:42 PM
I don't have a Twitter account and see no need to get one, but I do occasionally read one or two. They're secondary channels that allow other web services to post announcements when the service is down. The "Yes, we know, and are working on it." assurances and maybe a just a hint of technical detail or the time hoped for resumption of services. As primary communication tool, I just don't see it. As a backup communications channel it can make some sense.
tesral on Jan. 12, 2009 10:55 PM
1, 2, 3, 2....
Was that a comment on twitter feeds?
matt-arnold on Jan. 13, 2009 12:43 AM
It was a typo.
No, wait, I like your explanation better.
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