I admit it, I can be a social networking curmudgeon. MySpace confuses me. Facebook bores me. LinkedIn just helps me keep track of former coworkers. So I was pretty set against Twitter from the start. I mean, seriously, who cares what you’re doing right now? Brushing your teeth? Who cares?
It turns out that I do. Yeah, I know, I was shocked! I signed up for a Twitter account because of a proposal we’re working on, and I’ve become addicted. It’s like a low-interaction IM. Now I can keep track of friends and colleagues without having to have a dozen conversations with them all each day. I learn different things about people than I would if we were chatting on IM or having a beer. I love the haiku-ness of things people say, the tiny observations from their days, or the funny links and random thoughts. It’s like a mini-blog.
So this got me thinking about how people interact, and how there are so many different models for interaction. Twitter is passive/semi-active. I can comment back to people on their “tweets”, or I can just read the flotsam and jetsam of the day. I’ve been using Twitterific to keep track of everyone I’m following, so that automatically updates throughout the day to show me who’s up to what. This social networking tool that I poo-pooed just two weeks ago has insinuated itself into my daily taskflow. I check my tweets throughout the day, when I do, see, or think something tweet-worthy I make a note of it and share it later.
What’s also interesting is to see who starts following me. Most of them are folks I know, but some are strangers. Weird! It’s a good reminder that you never, ever know who might be reading/hearing you, and to be mindful about what you say in your outside voice. I suspect that some interesting community clusters are forming around who follows whom!
I’m pleased that I like Twitter as much as I do. Sure, it has no “value” in my day and seems superfluous, but it also makes me feel more connected to the folks I know around town and afar. It’s fun, it’s silly, it’s just what I need and never knew I was missing!
So what do you think about Twitter?