My #twitterbreak lasted approximately two days, and I had to break my “fast” because I simply couldn’t remain mute any longer. People who aren’t Twitter-savvy yammer on about how it’s just a bunch of self absorbed people blagging on about what they ate for breakfast, and a recently released study completely pooh-poohed the social media tool for consisting of about 40% pointless babble. They’re wrong. And not just because I’m biased.
That “pointless babble” study undertaken by Pear Analytics was revealed by Stephen Dann to be a hugely flawed report with questionable methodologies, plus it was some kind of PR exercise for another “babble-free” marketing tool. (I won’t be linking to it, but if you read Stephen’s blog post and the comments you’ll find it for yourself with bonus whinging from one of Pear’s staffers.) The whole exercise inflamed my tendinitis because I was shaking my fist so hard at all these lazy journalists who picked up the fluff and ran with it – in Australia I even saw it on the prime time news. Can I get a WHAT THE?
Further more, Twitter isn’t just people reporting in on the minutiae of their lives. It’s sharing information, chatting, keeping up-to-date, and… being human. I’ve had job opportunities thanks to Twitter, and I’ve met some fantastic people too. The people in my Twitter timeline keep me company all day, even if I don’t say anything at all.
The piece of paper I’ve scanned shows you my analogue twitter. Unfortunately, Twitter doesn’t have the capability to record doodles (that’s what TwitPic is for!) but that doesn’t mean I’ll be dumping it as my social media of choice. You can see where I’ve replied to friends, commented about tv shows, ranted about things happening in my life (albeit rather cryptically) and even retweeted things that resonated strongly with me. These are the things that some people might label as “pointless babble” but I feel it’s the stuff that draws us together.
And that’s why I love Twitter, and will continue to use it exactly the way I was using it before. You’ll get the best and the worst of me: the times when I’m completely ridiculous and hyperactive, as well as the times when I’m feeling low and needing validation. Those are the things I absolutely adore and cherish in my friends, and I would be cheating myself out of a perfectly functional and productive support network if I simply put on a front and pretended I was just some kind of facade of Natalie.
I’ve been using Twitter since early 2007. Back then, Twitter wasn’t what it is now–it was mostly a bunch of just us computer geeks chatting 24/7. I’ll admit that I miss those days sometimes, but since Twitter’s become more popular, I’ve gathered a great group of diverse followers.
It really isn’t just people blindly posting the minutiae of their days to the web. Sure, we do that, but most of my tweets are replies. No matter what I’m doing, no matter how unique it may seem, it’s likely that one of my followers has gone through the same situation. Despite having a private feed, I’ve got mutual followers from many different countries and many different walks of life on my feed. Students, K-12 teachers, professors, authors, doctors, artists, graphic designers, producers, chemists, computer security pros, hackers, mathematicians, marketers, comedians. Name a profession, and one of my followers lives it everyday.
It isn’t necessarily that we’re sharing our deepest thoughts. It’s that even if you’re alone at the bus stop, you can pull out your phone and find someone to pass the time with. You have the opportunity to share seemingly insignificant bits of your life with someone vastly different from yourself. And, when you have enough of those little moments, they really start to build up.
It’s good to have you back there lady. You were missed.
Yay, welcome back!
Have you seen that #fatpeoplearesexier is a trending topic today? That kind of surprised me…
I think it’s like Elvis, rock’n’roll, television, cell phones… people see it as something new, and thus it MUST BE BAD. It isn’t. It’s just new.
I’ve been on Twitter since its inception, and it’s just…Twitter. It’s actually pretty useful when you use it like a human being! So that “report” – bleh. It’s right along the lines of that one sponsored by some Baptist church claiming that most couples who cohabitate before marriage end up splitting up (a nonbiased study revealed there chances were 50/50, the same as that of traditional couples.)
Besides, since Twitter is a hot topic, being “against” it gives these folks something to say to get attention.