Tuesday, March 3, 2009

twitter (contd)...

bshawise said...
twitter (to me) just seems extremely vain. i have a hard time understanding why people want to alert everyone that they just ate chicken and watched a movie. help me understand the merits of this "communication tool."

it is vain to think that people actually care about what you are having for dinner... but, the same argument could be made about publishing one's ideas in a blog. but, that is the beauty of both... they are unforced communication.

in the 80's it was your money... but, today our most valuable currency is time. how you spend your time shows your priorities. this is what gives twitter value, being able to communicate your values.

comings and goings don't contribute to the "conversation" and if that is all you do, you won't have many "followers". but, commentary with the occasional status update is engaging. for instance, joe boyd is able to communicate reset information while personalizing it with the fact he is at a coffee shop working on his talk. personally, i have found updates to be micro blogs. chances are i won't read anyones complete blog entries, but the limit of 140 characters challenges the communicator to get to the point quick.

mega stars are able to use this communication to "connect" with their fans. shaq recently "tweeted" that he had two tickets to that nights game for anyone who could meet him at a specific location first. it's a cheep gimic... but, undeniably interesting.

for the church world, we should learn something from the obama campaign. we live in a new communication world. twitter gives you the chance to communicate in an authentic and personal way. twitter is not a social networking site (the distinguishing factor between twitter and facebook). people have to look for you to "follow" your communication. this is important because you are attracting people who want to hear from you... again, it's the beauty of unforced communication. and, adapting early to communication gives you the opportunity to communicate with early adaptors who tend to be influencers.

that's way more than 2 cents so i'll stop. feel free to follow me on twitter.

milthaler

5 comments:

Maureen said...

couldn't agree with you more...and disagree with brad even more.

also, for what its worth, here's what i had posted about twitter:
http://beautifullyflaweddivinelychosen.blogspot.com/2009/03/all-twitter.html

Anonymous said...

I agree with both of you. (Is that even POSSIBLE?!) I have been a Facebooker for 3 years and love that it's so broad in its ability to update you, inform you and keep you in the know. Twitter I can't get into because of that vain, seemingly pointless "here's what I did"/"watch me because I'm so interesting" factor. But I can see where it is unforced totally. And I value that. I guess if I were that interested in someone else, I would become their "follower" (as I think it's called). But, I'm happy with the complexity and goings-on of my own life enough to not need to live vicariously. If you've done something that fantastic, I want to share it with you, not be informed, like a member of the paparazzi.

bshawise said...

So that's the "Shaq and Obama use it so should we" logic? Those two are your doppelgangers. I hear your unforced point. Still seems vain. I love you. Tweet about that.

Maureen said...

think of twitter as the new & improved instant messaging/chat room, an innovative forum for people to converse online, network with others...or keep in touch with friends.

why go through the hassles of emailing someone, when you can interact...instantly. that was the whole appeal with IM anyways.

brad, you're a sports fan right? get a twitter account, invite your friends to follow and watch the next big game you're looking forward to. then tweet during the game with your friends that are separated geographically...trust me, you'll understand the beauty of twitter at that point.

it'll be like a game day with the boys around the tv...except twitterverse is your living room and you can still be in your underwear.

Unknown said...

Heh. I was about to say "My friend Maureen has a great joke about Twitter..."

Late to the punch, as usual.