Twitter, the brainchild of Obvious, has been hailed as everything from “trivial and useless” to a “fun little tool,” and it has been making massive gains in popularity as of late. The site allows users to quickly and easily update their friends, and any other random contacts who may wish to follow them, on their activities using a web browser, IM, or text message.
Some people, however, have been scratching their heads, asking the question, “What is Twitter good for, anyway?” With the glut of IM programs, RSS feeds, blogs, chat clients, and e-mail, what place does Twitter have in the online world? Tyme White, ever ready to comment on the web’s changing landscape, has posed that very question over at 9rules and is gathering a steady stream of answers.
When I first heard about Twitter in 2006, the idea seemed fairly trivial to me. Like many people, I was having a hard time understanding why someone like Evan Williams would sink his time and money into something that seemed so, well, useless. But, with the recent surge in interest (thanks, largely, to SXSW), I decided to log into my old account and see what Twitter is all about.
Now, after four straight days of using the service, I’m hooked and I’m not quite sure why. For all intents and purposes, I have no practical use for Twitter. Few of my local friends use the service and I haven’t enabled any of the cellphone-specific features. No, my experience is much more internal. David Seah, a fellow newcomer to the service, explained it pretty well:
[..] it does do one thing very well: closeness through shared environmental context. A big part of friendship is just hanging out and doing things together without direct communication. You can learn a lot about someone by just watching what they’re doing; Twitter is a kind of virtual version of that.
By “Twittering” with your online contacts — fellow bloggers, friends, family, readers, etc. — you become part of a stream of consciousness, a global passing of notes. It may seem silly, but you really begin to feel a sense of community, as disconnected as the medium may seem.
A number of other bloggers are exploring this new phenomenon as well. MG Siegler has explored Twitter’s potential as a source for breaking news, Charlene Li has examined where the service is headed, Corey Clayton wonders if Twitter has potential for newsroom use, and Kathy Sierra wrote up a great look at the addictive properties of Twittering. Now it’s your turn. What do you think of Twitter and its popularity? If you’re a current user, what attracted you to the service? If you haven’t jumped on the bandwagon, why not? Let me know.
Oh, and if anyone is interested, feel free to check out my Twitter profile and add me as a friend.
{ 1 trackback }
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Good write-up, Brian, and a good overview of some of the more well-founded observations I have noticed recently as well. It’s kinda scary to see my own twitters (tweets?) appear in your screen capture, twice, but I agree to the ‘internal’ bit, like you and Dave call it.
I also like how Brian from Stereoroid calls it ‘disposable microblogging’ on 9r, which is exactly how I see it. Obviously it’s not about who ate what, but when someone says they’re just catching a plane or going for a walk in the woods, it fills the gaps in their personality without me having to flock to their blog and read their entire bio and backlog.
Btw, I also just did my own version of the Twitter Idea, because like you, I have become entirely re-hooked over the past few days.
Just signed up. Man, that’s pretty cool.
The first thing that strikes me is the simplicity of the service. It’s not complicated like Facebook (as much as I like facebook). There are only several actions you can take on the site and that, for me, is a breath of fresh air.
That’s a great point I hadn’t considered. It definitely allows you to become slightly more involved with your favourite bloggers.
Exactly. It wasn’t until I installed Twitteroo and started using the service from my desktop that I saw the real value in it.
Leave a Comment