Usually when I don't understand something I call it stupid, automatically elevating myself to a superior level of being more intelligent than the thing I don't understand. However in the case of Twitter I do understand it, and it's still stupid.
I signed up for a Twitter account a few weeks ago and instantly had several people following me who were complete strangers. Cool, so far I had a small cult going on. Time to order some Snuggies and schedule our trip to the spaceship behind the comet.
The novelty of posting several times a day quickly wore off and I realized I had nothing of substance to contribute. I realized from the other cult leaders I was following that they also had nothing of substance to contribute either. You are hungry? Awesome. Just got back from gym and did an extended cardio routine? Good for you. Fell in to a hypnotic trance induced by Billy Mays' beard and bought three cases of Mighty Mendit? Who hasn't?
It was like we had all been handed a microphone with a mass audience and no idea what we wanted them to do. Really, what's the point of being able to talk to your followers when you don't know what to say, and you don't know what you want them to do?
That's why I predict Twitter will either quickly fade from relevance, or change their model.
Twitter is like fantasy baseball, whereas traditional blogs are more like fantasy football. Fantasy football is substantially more popular with the masses, and sometimes chicks even play. It takes up a relatively small amount of time each week to keep your blog/fantasy football team relevant, and overall it is a rewarding experience by watching how your players perform on Sundays. Blog followers also read with the expectation of regular updates, but on a daily or weekly basis.
With Twitter and fantasy baseball, a daily commitment is required over a long period of time. It can be frustrating to make frequent updates and not feel like there is a payoff since there are multiple games every night of the week. Twitter users have an expectation of frequent, non-stop updates every day.
Many argue that news outlets will utilize Twitter as a means of content distribution in real time. I would caution that news outlets need to be careful about the frequency of their updates. I was a follower of the 6ABC Twitter account and received 42 tweets in one day from them. It is information overload at its core.
It will be interesting to watch the evolution of Twitter as users learn about the service and help define what it becomes. If Twitter doesn't change with its users, it may wake up one day receiving tweets about its own obsolescence.
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2 comments:
While, I'll agree that getting 42 messages from one source is to much information, I think the issue was that 6abc failed to understand how to effectively use the technology. They need to establish different twitter accounts to allow followers to get information about things they care about. And you are right in that may people do not do enough interesting things to warrant posting everything they do. However, here is an example of some good uses...
1. To connect and update your status on various social media sites (Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo, etc...)
2. Retailers and service companies can quickly announce sales and promotions to people (followers) highly interested in their products.
3. Friends can occasionally post interesting things to let their followers (which should just be friends) about an exciting announcement (i.e. JIMINPA: I got a new bike! yeah!).
4. Let people know about an important event happening in the world (i.e. JOSMO: a plane just landed in the Hudson river right in front of my eyes!)
5. A cult can easily coordinate a mass suicide without everyone being in the same place.
Well may the last one is not a good use, but the key is to use it for the big things happening in life. Not that your on the shitter with no toilet paper in Macy's. That sucks and no one in the world cares.
Bad experience with the Macy's bathroom?
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