Comments on: A Twitter Debate with James Whatley

By: adelemcalear

adelemcalear — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 10:26:40 +0000

Sorry I'm late to this party. Hi Ewan – I'm Adele McAlear. I'm a marketer based in Montreal and a friend of James' from Phreadz. Now you know me Pleased to meet you. I'll endeavour to send a few non sequitur tweets in your direction so that you don't feel you're missing out Great discussion with James and in your comments. For me, Twitter is a way to learn, help, share, meet, collaborate, connect, and converse with amazing people that I would not otherwise have the opportunity to know. Everyone uses it differently.

You can experiment with the @ replies in your account settings to filter the noise, if that's what you're looking for. You can choose to not see @ replies directed towards people you do not follow. However, seeing those @ replies is also a good way to find new people to follow. You never know, you may just see something or someone interesting in one of those tweets that makes the rest of the chatter totally worthwhile.

@adelemcalear

By: adelemcalear

adelemcalear — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 05:26:40 +0000

@adelemcalear

By: adelemcalear

adelemcalear — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 04:26:40 +0000

@adelemcalear

By: SMSblack

SMSblack — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 13:00:53 +0000

My 2p worth - http://smsisthenewblack.co.uk/2008/12/28/12-day...

By: James Whatley

James Whatley — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 10:27:51 +0000

I'm in total agreement – You use it how you want to. There's no right or wrong way at all..

By: nacho

nacho — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 23:58:32 +0000

How did I miss this exchange?

By: jonmulholland

jonmulholland — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 20:32:56 +0000

Two links to fuel the MIR Twitter debate!

For those that just don't get Twitter, why it can be useful and generally positive you should read this Wired article on how Twitter creates a 'Social Sixth Sense' - http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/magazine/15-...

And for those who are convinced Twitter is a waste of time, only for attention seekers who want to share what they had for breakfast, you'll love 'Twitter Whore' - http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ALbH63Ali9U&featu...

By: mediaczar

mediaczar — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 18:06:16 +0000

1) You can "overengineer" a system. @Mike42 - adding a little "importance flag" is probably one of those things that would make a simple system overly complex. Making contingent sets of rules about "how to use Twitter" is overengineering. Seriously.

Twitter works for a couple of reasons, and one of them is that it's simple. Simple tools can often work well for lots of purposes: a screwdriver can screw in screws (or out) or it can be used to open a can of paint.

Let people decide how they want to use it. That way we get exciting things like http://www.stocktwits.com/ and hashtags and stuff like that.

2) In the way that light behaves like a particle AND like a wave, Twitter behaves partly like a chatroom (as you discovered last night) and partly like a bulletin board (yes - "bulletin board", not the more sophisticated "forum".) This ambiguity can be confusing at first, but only if you're trying to apply linear narrative analytic techniques (I so want to add the words "bourgeois" and "patriarchal" in there -- but shall resist.)

Go - as they say - with the flow. It will help you if you use something like Twhirl with the Growl notifier (PC users - I don't know what the Windows equivalent of Growl is, I'm afraid). That way you'll see little notes pop up in your peripheral vision. Ambient messaging. Very nice.

Hope this is useful

Si

By: Pettsvaldo

Pettsvaldo — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 16:39:00 +0000

“If you’re going to post a tweet, it should be a fully formed message that any of your subscribers should be able to understand. If you’re addressing a few friends, DM them. Or get them on IM”

That sounds suspiciously like an order. And I tend to respond to them badly!

Tools are used for whatever people find them useful for – if you dislike the way someone uses their pencil case then (notwithstanding legal considerations), you are completely within your rights to do di*k all about it.

If we want to apply rules to twitter, shouldn’t we assess in terms of the home page of Twitter itself,…

“Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?”

What you’re suggesting seems to run contrary to Twitter’s understanding of it’s own purpose – so, essentially, you’re proposing that we modify the use of a tool. And if you can do it, so can everyone else.

High horse no longer required – dismount.

By: Parsingphase

Parsingphase — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 16:10:00 +0000

If you consider @replies to people you don’t know to be pointless, set the @replies option on http://twitter.com/account/notifications to “Show me replies to people I’m following”. I, or James, can send what we want to, and you can receive what you want to.

By: James Whatley

James Whatley — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 14:59:59 +0000

Glad you blogged this – I thoroughly enjoyed the debate..

By: Mike Bradshaw

Mike Bradshaw — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 14:21:56 +0000

for those frustrated with Twitter come to Jaiku.

Twitter has lots of people, but you need to learn how to get the best from Twitter.
Don't feel bad if it does not make sense, the biggest question around twitter, after “how will they ever make money?”, is “what is the point of this?”

By: Mike42

Mike42 — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 13:49:40 +0000

Careful there Mark, the Twitterati will hunt you down and tweet you into submission with their frequent updates on the heath status of fellow train travellers, or indeed the status of trains/Tube in general

….

In other news, one of our chickens escaped! OMG! (just knew y'all needed to know that)

….

(I'll get me coat – mine's the one that updates all its fellow items of clothing as to where it's being worn)

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 12:06:17 +0000

I have to agree with Mike about finding friends using the mobile site… its just not as easy as it should or could be at all. Why no search for a friend option or enter an address/username to follow?

I like the idea of it but again, I haven't the foggiest whats going on with it most of the time…

By: Ben Smith

Ben Smith — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 10:36:29 +0000

There are clearly better ways to implement Twitter-like systems… just look at every subsequent micor-blogging system. BUT you're not there for the features, you're there for the community: Twitter is the crap pub you keep going to because that's where your mates hang-out.

It isn't the place to go if you want to focus on conversations that are all interesting to you, but neither's the pub.

By: Mike42

Mike42 — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 04:19:38 +0000

My suggestion: that when you write a Tweet, you can set its importance, just like in an email. So banal niceties that close friends and family might appreciate get marked low, engagement announcements or the fact you just broke your leg and need sympathy get marked high. Then for your followers, they can choose the level of update to receive on mobile devices, where time/attention is a premium. The dross can be mulled over online, sometime.

Â£0.02.

/m

By: Mike42

Mike42 — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 03:09:29 +0000

I am still finding getting into Twitter just sooooo frustrating. The website is confusing, and getting hold of a decent Java Twitter client, understanding exactly WTF is going on, adding new people (Why can't I just search or enter a friend's Twitter ID?) is just a faff.

Given how unfriendly the whole experience is to newbies I'm amazed that they have as many users as they do, and at the same time not surprised. I *want* to join in, but it's just too hard.

/m