It’s no secret that I’m addicted to social media, or that my favourite outlet is Twitter.
Why? So many people I (or my friends) come into contact with don’t get it. They say Twitter is stupid. Given, most of them haven’t checked out the service. But while they’re making fun of Twitter, they’re off spending hours on end on Facebook or MySpace. You know, the old social media. (Strange we have old New Media already, yes?)
But Twitter is the anti-Facebook. On Facebook you’re bombarded with photos, fan suggestions, ‘Become a Zombie’ requests, snowballs, and God knows what else that is hiding in the depths of their app schemas. Last week it was suggested I become a fan of curly fries. Really? Curly fries?
Facebook pushes and pushes at you. It’s become rampant with advertising, idiot chain-letter memes and even our parents! There’s so much noise that in order to pay attention to anything you have to dig. It takes a lot of work to set privacy levels and filter down what’s smacking you in the face into the things that matter to you in your ‘mini-feed’. That noise decreases a lot of the social interaction that the service had in its early days. Facebook has turned from being person oriented to being feature oriented.
In contrast, Twitter doesn’t have any of that crap. No apps, no ads (at the moment), no groups, no nothing. It’s simple person to person communication and it leaves group interaction up to the user. And that’s why it’s a success. That is why it’s making headlines. That is why I can ask a question and less than two minutes later have solutions from 10 of my followers. And more often than not those followers become friends. Twitter brings a level of personal interaction to the “evil digital communication” channels that we haven’t seen since email was first introduced.
One Higher Education colleague astutely observed that Twitter is redefining what a coworker is. It’s so true. People I’ve met only once, and in some cases never, help me everyday to solve problems or refine ideas. This one-on-one interaction is what makes the service great.
Of course there are the businesses out there that don’t abide by this rule. They post stupid anonymous advertisements or they simply import links from their site’s feed. They attempt to behave like old media on new media and wonder why it’s not helping. To them I say YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG!
The companies that are making a difference are the ones that have REAL PEOPLE manning their Twitter streams. Companies like Starbucks and Paste Magazine do it right. Even Comcast, one of the most hated companies in the country, has improved its customer service by having a real person behind a company-branded Twitter account to answer real customer questions.
That’s what people seem to crave in social media–a conversation. Not games and noise and a false face. That’s all a distraction from what social media should be: Social.
I agree. I’m sick of being bombarded by “What is your sexy stripper name” quizzes and all the facebook crap. I enjoyed it when it was simple and clean. Hopefully twitter stays that way. Also, it was recommended that you become a FAN of curly fries. No one can befriend a curly fry Joel. Duh.
This is really well said. Sometimes people ask “Why Twitter? What’s the point?” I find I have a hard time putting it effectively into words, but this is a great argument for Twitter. I’ll have to use it next time.
I find myself at twitter for most of the time I put toward social media. I am on facebook, and I try to put energy into it because I feel like I -should- be there. But I don’t get anywhere near the value out of it as I do from twitter.
But I have to disagree with Audra. I am a fan of curly fries.
I totally agree, and find the shift of “new” new media vs. “old” new media among techy inclined socialites VERY interesting, and you hit the nail right on the head. My argument for Twitter is similar to yours, but I do not tend to use Facebook as an example. I say it’s a simple premise, with nearly infinite possibilities of implementation from personal to professional. I think of twitter as my living room. It’s the place I socialize with my friends, share ideas and stay connected. Though eventually I’ll have a professional twitter too, for that day when I’m a respected professional… ha! Anyway, good blog dude!
Exactly! That’s that conversation aspect I was talking about. Because you’re not bombarded with 60 things at once you can focus on those people in your “living room” and foster better relationships.
For me the professional side is different, mainly because I’ve decided not to differentiate between my life and my work. They’re so much a part of each other — and I think this is fairly common among web professionals — that the line has blurred.
But that’s a different post for a different time
I wouldn’t mind if Twitter had groups, but that’s about it, Facebook does have a crapload of dumb junky chain letter applications, especially the unlockable gifting apps and silly levelling up game apps, none of which interest me in the slightest, and yes, they do junk up the feed. The only thing I dislike about Twitter is its name. It took several friends getting hooked on it until I finally gave it a chance. “Twitter” really? I don’t care for a lot of really silly sounding names – Lulu.com for writers – ehhh, whatever. Who can talk about that with a straight face? The only problem I have with your article above is that you complain about your parents being on Facebook. Social media is and should be for all ages, with subsocial networks being for specific types of people if exclusivity is what you want? I.E. ConnectU is for college students, so anybody whinging about Facebook letting their younger sister or their granny on can shut up already and head to ConnectU. Don’t get me started on chain letters/viral stuff, of which the gifting apps are as well, that’s for another time.
ConnectU? Really? You’re going to bring that up? You could also mention the whole “Zuckerberg stole the idea” case too. Facebook started out as college only and did well enough to allow the team to open it to the general public. But do you remember the outcry when that happened?
The parents thing was more tongue-in-cheek than anything. For me, Facebook is a great way to keep tabs on things going on back home (I grew up in Southern California but have been in Illinois since college). But social? Again, I think Facebook discourages community and sociality by generating and allowing so much noise to exist in its little ecosystem.