Twitter: fad or social networking pandemic?

Posted on 17. May, 2009 by Hector Aviles in Archive

Twitter as social pandemic:
Twitter use is spreading faster than the swine flu. Everyone with an online presence is using it. But, is twitter’s microblogging, where you can only write a maximum of 140 characters, really provide value for the social networker? Is is just a burning fad or a new trend here to stay?

How twitter is supposed to work:
Twitter model of microblogging is designed to provide quick short updates of what your currently engaged on. The limit of 140 characters per “tweet” (or post), is design to assure the post is kept short. The window where you write your “tweet” in twitter is encouraged with the question: “What are you doing”? By letting your followers know what you are up to, or simply publish a message or share a thought, you become your followers in loyal online friends and customers.

Is Twitter worth your time? 
I have been quite disappointed on my 1st impression of twitter. I decided to jump into the twitter bandwagon, since I have this LatinoWebCafe.com blog, and thought it could be the good promotion avenue it professes to be. What I have found is that many people with some kind of online presence will spam you in twitter to follow you in a hope that you will follow them as a sign of “returning the favor”. Having many “twitter followers” is your objective in twitter in order to market your online presence. It is also seen a a kind of badge of honor. Is this worth your time? Some people swear of the benefits of tweeter. One of the people I use as a type of “online mentor” Yaro Starak of “Entrepreneurs-Journey.com”, in a recent article titled “Is Twitter a Time Waster or A Powerful Business Tool?” suggests Twitter is a very powerful marketing and social networking tool.

Twitter; a big distraction:
I have come to the conclusion that Twitter is a big attention sucker and focus killer. Finding value in tweets is very sporadic. I discovered that few people provide links or “re-tweets” to articles of value. Most just write, as Twitter suggests, on “what are you doing?”. Most times you’ll find tweets like this one from Jack Welch, the former COE of GE, where he wrote, “watching golf, boring without Tiger”. I find reading this a big waste of time. Apparently other people are seeing what I’m seeing. If you search for “twitter distraction” you’ll find plenty of articles like “Does Twitter take too much time?”, and “Why I stopped using Twitter“.

In these super-connected times we live, where you can easily be over-loaded with information, and most people struggle just managing their email Inboxes, not to mention their MySpace, Facebook, Instant Messaging, cell phone text messages, etc., that we don’t need another source of information infected with mostly useless tweets. If you want to get anything done, this is not the tool for you. If you are rich and retired like Jack Welch, you can grab your cell phone or netbook, and tweet every second of your life away.

Twitter as a Pandemic:
The definition of a pandemic according to Wikipedia is a “an epidemic of infectious disease that spreads through populations across a large region; for instance a continent, or even worldwide.” I describe twitter as a pandemic. Because of the mostly time-waste nature of the service, I find it to be an infectious disease that has spread quickly around the world.

"Wearing my twitter t-shirt"

I also believe it will eventually die. This fad will pass away. Why? Because the value proposition, or lack thereof, will not hold it for long. MySpace is now looking like a terminally ill patient, loosing members and advertisers everyday and with rumors of its eventual closing already circling the internet. Twitter, in the middle of its boom, has not monetized the service, a huge wasted opportunity. Even if Twitter is bought by Google, Microsoft, or some other tech giant, its days are counted. I think 5 years from now, we may not remember Twitter.

But you don’t have to take my work; go try Twitter:
The good thing of these social networking services is that they are free, “gratis”. Others may argue that since “time is money”, if you can’t justify your time investment, then you are wasting time and money. But you may want to give it a try. The good thing about Twitter is that its very simple to use, as its nothing much more that writing 140 characters at a time. And if you need some guidelines on how to get started, you can find plenty of help online. Here is a “BusinessWeek” article on twitter word definitions, titled “How to Speak Twitter“. An article that I truly recommend is ProBlogger’s “How to Use Twitter – Tips for Bloggers”. If you are not a blogger, I still think you’ll find value in the article. Go give it a try, and tell me what you think.

I will continue to use Twitter, although mostly to announce when I’m publishing an article in my blog or communicate the topic of the article I’m working in. Recently I posted a tweet that I had been unable to blog this week because of urgent pressing work on my day job. That is the one that pays the bills, so I had to focus 100% on getting the work completed. But otherwise, I don’t plan to be checking Twitter often either to read or write tweets. I’ll check my account once in a while to see what is going on. I know there are ways to get auto notifications and alerts, but I have other work that I need to focus on. I will not let twitter suck my focus from my priorities.

Tell me what you think:
What do you think? Have you tried twitter? Do you like it? What’s your purpose for using it? Do you think it will be around in 5 years? Write your thoughts in the comments section.

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Tags: facebook, My Space, Pro Blogger, Yaro Starak