The Gadarene rush from Twitter
The twitter is beginning to sound a bit strangulated now. Like a flock of birds flying through a cloud of grapeshot.
Hugh Macleod’s cartoon sending up Twitter mania
It seems both Hugh Macleod (the gaping void — see cartoon above) and Robert Scoble are coming off Twitter, that maddeningly insistent waster of time for busy professionals who regularly protest about email-overload but tweet happily throughout the day to thousands of “followers”. Jeremy Wright too has whipped the twittering hierglyphics off his blog. At last sense has returned to the Techmeme crowd.
It’s becoming clear that the much derided New York Times article last Sunday, which pictured exhausted bloggers stumbling to early graves, has had an effect. Here at Syntagma we responded to the piece by suggesting a flight from Twitter as a first step to sanity.
Does anyone in real life speak in batches of 140 characters? I thought not. It’s so obviously an artificial way of communicating. And the way each twit begins with @fredbloggs as if a gun is being fired at his head, is very disconcerting.
The whole thing has got out of hand and GapingVoid’s cartoon gets it in a nutshell.
I haven’t abandoned twitter. 98% of what I do will still be there, it was just cluttering up my blog every day. Don’t read more into the action than I’ve clearly stated John :p
(and don’t worry about responding, I’m not turning notifications on)
By Jeremy Wright on April 10th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
Blimey that was a quick response, Jeremy. It must have gone through Twitter.
By John Evans on April 10th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Hey John - I understand where you’re coming from.
My play on Twitter is on how you use it. I was very negative on Twitter when it first appeared but it is useful (I know: shock, horror :-).
I only follow a handful of select individuals that I respect - I often get an early scoop on new ideas, new posts etc.,
My target audience (home business owners) don’t use Twitter, so I’m not using it to market myself. I use it primarily as a research tool.
It also seems to be the best way, these days, to get in touch with someone in an instant.
By Martin Neumann on April 11th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Martin, the objectors to Twitter, including myself, mainly dislike the volume of noise. Robert Scoble says you can get a Tweet every 2 seconds, which must be intolerable on a Blackberry. How can anyone stand that amount of incoming traffic?
By John Evans on April 11th, 2008 at 10:39 am
Incidentally, Tony Hung makes the case for Twitter in his latest post, although he’s partially sceptical.
By John Evans on April 11th, 2008 at 10:39 am
John - yeah every 2 seconds is a tad stupid I would say, but if Scoble can handle it without burning out more power to him
For me, that’s why I’m very strict on who I follow. Under a hundred is fine by me (because I hand select them and not just go for the quantity) and I’m also ruthless in dropping those that waste my time.
I don’t understand how people can follow 2,000 or so people on Twitter (very common) - I’d go crazy.
Will have to check Tony’s post - thanks for the tip.
By Martin Neumann on April 11th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
I just don’t get this .. “Scoble said this so I must do that” or “Scoble doesn’t like it so it must be stupid” …
I didn’t like twitter in January 2007 .. and despised it with a passion in May 2007 .. There was just too much attention and I was laughing at all the minions in January 2008 and February 1, 2008 I decided to give it a try ..// yah, I like it now.
My plan is to try to follow as many people as possible, and hopefully a good percentage will follow me back (so, maybe if I do chat my words will go somewhere and have some strength in numbers) but, I leave my twitter (twhirl) on all day and just filter out my username, in case people are looking for me.
I don’t see any “rush from twitter” at all - in fact I see another surge in progress. I suspect people are moving “tweets” off their blogs and either into oblivion or the sidebar, because it was never right to have them there in the first place. It’s a chat. It’s not microblogging (imo)
By HART (1-800-HART) on April 16th, 2008 at 5:15 am
Well, HART, all the “rush from Twitter” posts are probably driving more people to it.
To me it all comes down to time. I’m trying to shave my working life into a 3-hour morning, plus maybe a one-hour check in the evening. It’s not a 4-hour workweek, but a 4-hour workday.
Twitter would just make that more difficult. It’s really for workaholics or kids who like things to be happening every minute of the day.
To me, it’s a kind of neurosis — needing to be in the thick of it all the time and a centre of attention. We’re really being over-mediated, which means there’s less time to mediate ourselves.
By John Evans on April 16th, 2008 at 8:58 am
Actually .. *only* 4 hours per day sounds nice
By HART (1-800-HART) on April 16th, 2008 at 9:25 am
It’s great, especially with the good weather arriving and lots of time to get out. But you really have to be stern with yourself over email and other connecting devices.
I now save up all my phone calls and make them on my mobile when I’m out walking. It’s a good way to add some exercise to the daily grind.
By John Evans on April 16th, 2008 at 9:33 am