Three Minds On Digital Marketing @ Organic

Hi Misha

I wouldn't say you've got it all wrong as I too have found myself hopelessly over new technologies, products, ideas and projects on a very regular basis. The excitement of something new, the figuring it all out, the sharing it with your friends, the analysis and pontification about how the new thing will change the world always does manage to fade somehow.

But for me Twitter has managed to break out of that pattern. I may be a unique case, but I really find twitter this wonderful tool that allows me to connect with several of my past and current friends in a low commitment, innocent and interactive way. Because of twitter I feel like I am a part of so many peoples lives and they are apart of mine, simply because we can all so easily say .."right now im out on the front porch with my kids" or "anyone know a great sushi place or 54th" etc.

Other forms of interaction to me feel like I have to put in too much effort. I wouldn't send a mass email to 20-3 of my friends letting them know about the minutia of my life. But with twitter we all share the little things which is just fun and connects us.

I totally agree that tweets could potentially encourage a lack of intimacy or closeness between friends. A simple tweet can in no way replace good ol real life interaction. But in such a fragmented world with people living and working and moving all over the place, twitter for me is a nice..."hey i know you exist and im thinking about you" tool.

:)

it's not spam... it's twitter! ;-)

Hmm interesting polarized opinion.

I am at the disadvantage of just picking up Twitter for the first time, and have not fully absorbed the nuances of the interaction.

I am nearing the "I think I'm in love stage!". (although I hate to associate my personality with something as flat as a graphic chart)

That aside, I must admit to a fleeting thought only about an hour ago. After Tweeting that I was about to eat some Dim-Sum and driving to my destination.... I had the distinct feeling that Twitter was essentially, as you put it, "a declaration of existence". And, maybe sadly, I found this feeling powerfully stimulating.

Again, I am in the rookie stage of Twitter, so I can't assert a seasoned opinion.

However, contrary to your position, in my experience, people actually tend to be very erratic, unstable, unpredictable and thus interesting... paving the way to a collective narrative that is full, rich and deep in both meaning and sentiment.

WOW is all i have to say especially coming from a blog i've long and continue to respect.

As a reaction piece, this piece of editorial (which is what it is) got my attention. As an informative blog post not so much. All you are really saying is that try as you might Twitter isn't doing it for you.

And that's totally fair. However i wish you recognized that there is utility in Twitter whether you can find it or not.

I've been using Twitter for about 1 year now, and at the beginning i thought of it as a useless utility. But the power is in your block or community. Twitter is just a container. The utility lies partly in the functionality it has across a number of media (mobile, web, desktop).

However its true value is in your block or community. Very much like Facebook or any other conversation enabler, the tool is a conduit and not the creator of value.

Great, but i think the vibrant community and the fact that it continues to grow would suggest that

Adam - glad that the Novelty Curve resonates with you. I've found that I never realize I am on the downslope until I reach the moving on stage. Let me what you think about Twitter in a few months!

Nicholas- nothing wrong with feeling stimulated by a declaration of existence. It's what drives the addictive power of status updates on LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. And if reading other people's updates make you feel more a part of friends's lives, then it's working as it should.

Sean- Thanks for supporting ThreeMinds and you're right, this is purely editorial- I am not trying to say that Twitter is useless, but rather to come out of the closet about the fact that I haven't found any utility myself. Your reaction is similar to comments from Chad Stoller, our head of Emerging Platforms: "Tweets mean something if you aggregate them. Twitter is a broadcast platform, its up to people to see how they use it." It could be that I am following the wrong people!

Thanks for the comments and keep 'em coming! No one wants to join me on the wrong side of history? :)

You couldn't have said it better Misha. I'm going through web apathy right now and twitter was the straw that broke the camel's back.

While I think it may be tempting for some to "use" social media tools in such a way as to actually decrease intimacy, for me, blogging (and new Twitter - relative n00b) has been a great way to build bonds of shared interest. I enjoy the backyard fence level of interaction (up to a point), and Twitter allows for as much or as little as desired. We're all a mix of deeper thought and spontaneous expression, so having both enabled electronically is nice. But, like anything, it comes down to signal/noise ratio...

You make some thoughtful points Misha - I completely get David's graph of interest and totally uinderstand your POV. I guess what I'm interested in is how much *we* can make services such as Twitter our *own*.

In other words, how much do we accept phenomena like Twitter at face value, as a fixed entity like a product, rather than a fluid entity that we might take charge of and devlelop over time for our own unique, personal needs. Or, indeed await the next improvement to come along

I just read Adam Greenfield's piece form last year; http://tinyurl.com/2nx98w and this very much speaks to the fluidity and flexibility we must consider as part of social software and relationship experiences if they are to have continued audience resonance.

This I think Twitter has - or rather the potential - as we can make of it what we will.

Which is why I continue to *play* with it. Twitter brings a smile to my face and an upturn to my brow in equal measures - but it remains part of my mix of relationship tools; both physical and virtual.

I love how it challenges my existing social tools (like Brian Shaler's Twixxer photo / video attacher encroaching on moblog). Of course I love the inventive mashups. In fact after the spurt of interest in Facebook, I find myself returning to the purity of Tweets.

It's not perfect by any means but it works, and here's to the next bright and shiny new thing. Long may there be innovation.

Interesting read here, and though I don't think you're off base at all in your opinions, I don't necessarily agree. Part of the reason is that it depends on how you intend on using Twitter and remember what it's core use is for, which is answering the question "What are you doing right now?"

I think it is a great communication platform for quick responses. It's not really meant to be a platform for conversations, so those that expect it to be that may grow tired of it or be disappointed. So every time I post, I make sure to stay in the realms of what it's meant for. That's where the value is.

But as Alex pointed out, you have to figure out how to make Twitter your own, which I think many people who first sign up have to figure out. Not everyone uses it the same. Through my use, I've been able to get a quick glance at others interests that I might not have known before, especially since most of those I follow on Twitter live in other states. These quick bursts of communication are very valuable to me, and don't necessarily warrant a full conversation and/or email. And I try to keep it that way.

Do you think your expectations are too high for Twitter?

If your tired of twitter, try this instead... ;-)

http://tinyurl.com/24pxjd

Misha, I came back to check on the conversation here and was surprised not to see my comment. Please drop me an email to discuss, in case there was some misunderstanding.

"Part of the reason is that it depends on how you intend on using Twitter and remember what it's core use is for, which is answering the question "What are you doing right now?""

Indeed. But is the answer to that question really very interesting for most people, most of the time? A friend of mine just landed in Melbourne from LA - that's an interesting event in her life. Hearing she's taking out the garbage is not.

The people who I like to follow are using Twitter to send out quick notes on interesting things that they see on the web or in real life. Not only is the signal interesting, they refrain from sending out mundane things, thereby reducing the noise. Their tweets answer not "what are you doing right now?" but the far more interesting question "What have you run across that others might want to see?" The former is self-absorbed and usually banal. The latter can be fascinating.

I have to agree with Sean: as with any online venue, the community is a huge impactor on one's adoption of a new meme. In this case, Twitter combines both utility and community, so you may have a great use for Twitter but few interesting connections - or a great community with little use. In my case, I've found both, so you just go ahead and move right along there, Misha - I'm still digging it. ;)

More seriously, the signal-to-noise ratio goes down as the number of those followed expands. That decreases utility as well. I think if you follow a valuable few, and keep both community and utility high, the value will remain.

Hi Folks

I've been getting feedback from several people today that their comments have not been appearing. There's a lot of interest in this topic and I am definitely not trying to squelch what is becoming a very healthy discussion. To be clear, I haven't killed anyone's comments.

In the last couple of weeks we have been experiencing a big increase in spam volume, to the tune of 4000 spam comments and trackbacks a day. We have several auto-filtering solutions in place, and apparently they are not working properly. I have adjusted the filter sensitivity and things should be fixed from the real user perspective. We are implementing captcha and it should be up later this week.

If your comment hasn't shown up, please repost.
Sorry for the inconvenience.

Misha

I am a new twitter enthusiast, strangely fascinated by the chaotic signal to noise madness of twitter, also deeply sympathetic to your sense that it is trivial pretend-communication at best, stalking yourself at worst.

While undecided about my own position on twitter's long-term value (and, with some of your commentors I suspect the long-term is required to make sense of twitter, if one can stick with it) I was struck by comments in your post relating to 'social distance' and communication via social software. Your reference to the NYTimes article by Alex Wright (I believe) reminded me of Freud's Civilization and Its Discontents; in fact, it all made me rather feel that all the academic talk about traditional societies and communication and intimacy was somehow suspect.

Perhaps the explosive growth in social networking and social media owes itself to the common sense of distance and disconnection many of us feel in daily, traditional, face-to-face communication; perhaps location-neutral communication tools like twitter allow us to recreate community on a foundation (perhaps purely illusory...) abstracted from the complicated and discontent-laden realities of direct contact, in a way that recaptures some lost sense of intimacy and direct, trivial, but binding connection.

I don't know, but I suspect there is more mystery here than mere utility or signal-to-noise or anthropological reflection on oral culture quite addresses.

Thanks for your contribution to the conversation; I think interesting developments lie ahead.

Twitter is certainly a good exemple of "the strengh of weak cooperations". http://www.idate.fr/fic/revue_telech/696/CS65_AGUITON_CARDON.pdf

"Tweets, if you can consider them personal communications at all, are a declaration of existence rather than an invitation to engage in a conversation."

I tend to agree.

But, ironically, I became aware of your post via a Steve Rubel tweet.

Hmmm.

The key is to follow the right few people, especially on your mobile.

We already live in an environment of information overload. So, why in the world would we want to be inundated with another source (Twitter) of mostly useless and time-wasting information.

What we really need is a source or multiple sources of thoughtful editors who digest all this information and help us understand it.

In the past, some bloggers did this. However, sadly, many of them have switched to Twitter.

Though, I know it's not your main point, my main criticism is this reflects a a similar comment on Armano's original post. The problem with his picture is that it's incomplete. See the S-curve of technology adoption on Wikipedia.

I don't know if Twitter will succeed or not. But I think the technology itself will live on in some form. "That distance makes it safe for people to connect through weak ties where they can have the appearance of a connection because it's safe." True. And maybe we value those weak connections because we crave connection - and because they're safe.

Twitter is the virtual water cooler for the web professionals geekverse. You've got to treat it as such - you don't hang out by the water cooler in your office all day long, no matter how great the conversation is.

You make a very good point if you entry. But like many others I think twitter is for low maintenance way to keep up with certain people that I would really not meet or talk to on a regular basis.

As a matter of fact, I can count on one hand how many of my "real friend" know what twitter is. So I think, you just have to strike a balance between "real friends" and "twitter friends" (i.e. don't stay home to twitter instead of going out to dinner with friends or don't twitter while at dinner.)

Thanks for addressing the missing comments. Glad to know I was one of many. That said...since my response was lengthier than is fitting for true Twittering I'll recap my general thoughts in brief:

"Hallelujah! I thought I was the only one feeling this way."

Good conversation all.

You're genious. (I'm not elaborating the concept since I think You've said it all)

I'm taking the garbage out. It's Twitter. Twitter is what we do between blogs and email? Get a second life.

FINALLY!!!! I thought I was alone!
Twitter is the biggest sign of our civilization's decline into the truly banal.

Two words...Un-follow :)

If your signal-to-noise ratio is low, start unfollowing the noisy ones. I can guarantee you there are many, many twitter-ers within a variety of industries and niches who consistently provide interesting, non-mundane, and thoughtful albeit concise comments.

Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Although I'm new to twitter, I have to agree with others here who have pointed out that twitter - like anything else - is what you make it. That's evident to me even after only a few days on the service.

I've noticed lately that there seems to be a backlash brewing toward internet-based communication and information, and a lot of people seem to be returning to the old mindset of "if it's not IRL (in real life), it's not real" - particularly when it comes to human interaction. To that I simply have to say, it's up to the people involved to determine the level of authenticity and intimacy in their relationships - online or off. But if you find online connections don't resonate with you, consider the possibility that there may be social/emotional barriers to overcome in order for you to connect with people on that level. Online friendships require very different levels of trust, candor, patience etc. than offline ones.

I've also noticed an increasing tendency for people to dismiss what they a] don't understand b] feel alienated by or c] become frustrated with. Rather than ask for help or advice, and rather than doing their own deeper analysis, they'll simply criticize and ultimately dismiss the idea or item in question. Perhaps that's human nature in some ways, but I find it frustrating, because it goes against one of my favorite mantras: "Be the one on whom nothing is lost."

So what, then, is at the core of a venue like twitter? What is the essential human need or niche it's filling? Have I given it a fair shake? Are there ways in which others might be able to help me to connect with the value in it? Do I want to bother trying?

Maybe you've already asked yourself these questions, but it doesn't sound to me like you've really given it a proper try. And that isn't a big deal - you have every right to choose your own communication media. But if there's a rub there for me, it's simply that you seem to miss the bigger picture of what the value is for others. Consider the possibility that people really are connecting, learning, interacting and networking in useful, genuine and enlightening ways, and you just didn't "get" it.

I like using Twitter for inside jokes, and hastily airing frustration. My coworkers and I use it a lot, and it works out pretty well for us. We also use it if our email goes down. I've been using it for about a year now, so I guess it stuck with me. Took me awhile to really get into though.

I found this article because I was searching for more people who have realized that Twitter is a wonderful creative outlet for a very specific form of writing: HAIKU!!!

Something about it: /
the mashup of restrictions /
is so beautiful.

140 characters is plenty of space for the 5-7-5 syllable counts needed, and it makes the whole twitter experience feel much less trite.

Check out twemes.com/haiku for all the recent haiku tweets that are marked with the #haiku tag. :)

You're just following the wrong people. Follow the people you admire, and you won't get bored with it.

Twitter is a tool.
Like any other tool you need to learn how to use it properly. Why don't you try that.

Thought-provoking post. I read an article the other day (can't remember where unfortunately) about the erosion of the 'private life'... similar kinds of ideas explored. I also think the conflation of personal and professional identities can be, for some people, a real point of tension.

What Eaon said... It's about how you use it.

Anyway, I'd recommend leaving it at arm's length for a while. I left my account ticking for ages until I began to find my way to use it and it starting being very useful indeed.

As for most people not being that interesting... you really mean that?

Why follow people?

Follow fast moving events. NPR's twitter is awesome. It makes twitter make sense.

Try it out on primary night. Follow nprnews and you'll shut off cnn and go back to your real-life.

Twitter is best when you are mobile; it's my favorite web destination when I'm on the bus or out walking.

The votes are in, and a clear majority of you think that I'm just not using Twitter correctly, either because I haven't given the platform a real chance or, most interestingly, because I am following the wrong people.

I don't mind being wrong. So I am now following all of you who asked me to give it another shot!

What are you doing?

Nicely put. I think it is a good tool for communication, organizing or getting people together but not as an overall diary as some are doing.

"Hey, I am picking my nose now" .. "wow me too"

Maybe if we did a twitter for world peace then it would be more useful.

oktay usta

thanks...

Expressing a complete thought in 140 characters is a peculiar and valuable skill.

Can you be over something you were never "under"?

The "low commitment" part of this equation is exactly what makes me more than just "over" Twitter; it leaves me hoping that it's a passing fad rather than a trend.

Very glad to see that people are becoming weary of low commitments and shallow dives. I'd hope the "with our busy schedules" argument would raise the issue of how to revise our lifestyles, not how to leverage technology to enable further digression from real life.