I think it's great that Team 4 is pushing everyone to jump on the Twitter wagon, because otherwise I would have found every excuse not to join! Why do so many people, who are already used to being overly connected via the Internet, cell phones, Facebook, etc. still hesitant to Tweet? What is it about Twitter that scares away many modern day professionals?
For me I think it's the idea that Twitter is one more way to be connected when I am already overwhelmed with "connectedness" - I can't remember the last time I turned off my cell phone nor the last day I didn't check my e-mail at least ten times. Enough!
I do vastly appreciate the fact that Twitter has become an integral part of communication when disaster strikes - such as the recent earthquakes and tsunamis in Japan. Twitter has been priceless as a communications tool when other methods would have been too slow.
Overall, I think the "connectedness" Twitter provides is both the enticement and the repulsion - regardless, the benefits provided in times of crisis wash out all the negativity. What are your thoughts?
It's interesting that a number of our undergraduate students have given up on email. They will follow twitter and Facebook however. So how do I contact them? It seems to me that I need to get on twitter! It provides real time information.
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree. Twitter seems like one more thing to keep up with. But you make a good point Christina, in a disaster or emergency Twitter seems invaluable. And Gloria, you are so right. My oldest daughter (23) ditched email a while back and uses primarily Facebook, Twitter, and of course text messaging. I think she can text faster than she can speak, quick fingers. Almost never is the phone used.
ReplyDeleteI believe it Twitter is a great medium for communication, even globally. However Christina used a key word--professional in her original question. I'm not sure social media has a professional tone yet which is why I hesitate to use it, especially knowing how many companies can search my threads, tweets, etc. Besides do I really need to tell people what I'm doing every moment of the day? I'm not sure about you but my time is already condensed!
ReplyDeleteJust a quick follow up: Since we were talking about monetizing Twitter here is a relevant article:http://www.vancouversun.com/business/technology/Twitter+revolution+will+monetized/4476848/story.html
ReplyDeleteAny bets on whether they go public or stay private?
I will ReTweet this one here as not all are on the Twitters yet it seems.
ReplyDeleteTwitter turned 5 yesterday. Time to reach the first billionth tweet? 3 years, 2 months and 10 days. Cut to today. Time to add a billion tweets? One week!!!
So, Heather, I would respond by saying with 200,000,000 users and growing at a rate of 460,000 per day (60%+ of which are from outside of the US) - it will go public. The silly little issue of monetization will happen, though likely not on the scale of Google or Facebook.
Interesting link:
http://blog.twitter.com/2011/03/numbers.html
Sorry - I was going to try and keep this one to 144 characters, but could not pack it all in...
After reading the experiences of Twitter and the impact that it has during disasters, It appears there is a significant place for this other than marketing a product.
ReplyDeleteHowever, to put everything in perspective, The US Postal Service did great job in moving mail from one side of the city to another- it only took a couple days. then everyone moved from a party line telephone to a single phone. Email came around and before we knew it everyone was connected. Then mobile phone brought around a revolution in communication when it became affordable for everyone.
Now we can stay in touch with everyone all the time with FB, Twitter, LinkedIn, search the person on the web and find out the criminal background, where they live, etc. Before we know it, we will not have to speak with anyone, just keep typing.
Is this progress? What ever happened to going out for a beer and carrying on a conversation face to face and meeting people the old fashion way?
Great point on how important this type of media is during a disaster. I remember that within 10 minutes of the second plane hitting the WTC on 9/11 just about every form of communication failed in NYC. The only way that I was able to communicate with my family was by sending an e-mail. During a major disaster the first thing to go is communication. For whatever reason e-mail and I suppose twitter and facebook seem to keep plugging along. Without having received that e-mail, my family would have had to wait for hours to find out what was going on. This is a major benefit.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I am just not that interested in finding out what you had for breakfast or that you parked your car at the airport. That stuff is for the birds!