Comments on: Is Twitter Really Social?

By: Silvia

Silvia — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 22:13:26 +0000

Hi Allen,
sorry for my english, I am italian. I read your post, and I found it trough my research to understand if really we need about Twitter or not.
Question arrive because in my experience, we have a travel site dedicated to miami beach, the user who follow us trough Twitter they do only to receive impotetical visit from someone who read our new post.
So, I am not sure really, but I am starting to think that Twitter is not to much useful for us.
Basically the person subscribe with the hope that you make the same.
They don’t add a value and most of their small message are really incomprehensible.
There are also many tools where you can post in Twitter automatically from Facebook for example or from somewhere in the net.
Maybe the title could be significant in Facebook or in some other platfrom and not really suitable in Twitter.
This is my personal opinion of course.

By: Rebecca C

Rebecca C — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 16:08:17 +0000

Allen,
I am going to reiterate what a lot of people are saying on these comments: stick with it, and you will soon see the very real social value. You have to participate in a meaningful way to get value.
It’s true there is some investment, but real socializing is like that, too. You don’t expect in real life to suddenly be able to effortlessly engage with strangers. It takes some time to get to know them, by listening at first.
I have found the tool to mostly be a very valuable complement to my real social networks – as former grad school classmtes dispersed – and to my career network, as I “meet” other tweeters (who live in my area in the real world, or through mutual real-world friends) via like interests and then later meet them face-to-face in real life professional situations.
I think Twitter is at its best when enhancing real-life connections, and not neccessarily to be viewed as a mass chat room.

By: Dusan

Dusan — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 11:41:20 +0000

Allen, you seem to always somehow put my thoughts together in a nice package.
I think twitter is a nice tool for someone in some point in time. That’s it. That same person will in few years stop using it.
I think IRC was a much better tool. It even had channels! And I’m sure twitter will get channels in no-time.

By: Allen Weiss

Allen Weiss — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 14:12:22 +0000

Thanks Liz…you make a good point. And thanks to you, Leigh. I agree about the discussion about “getting it”. When people use that term, that typically means they have a hardened perspective and are unwilling to view a different perspective (and typically say the different perspective is wrong, not interesting, silly, etc.)

By: Allen Weiss

Allen Weiss — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 14:00:53 +0000

Thanks Jim (and Jonathan) As noted, the title is simply asking a question, and my post is taking a personal perspective. That is all, nothing more. The purpose was not to create profound statements. Just an fyi, I am a professor and I am always ready to learn.

By: leigh duncan-durst

leigh duncan-durst — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 13:56:51 +0000

@ Jonathan – Amen brutha. Preach it.
We are dangerous when we drink so much social media koolaid that we forget that we live in a bubble. MOST of the world, including my teenage step daughter – are not yet addicted to Twitter. We need to take some of our OWN medicine and listen to people like Allen because they can provide some important insight. They may not always be right – but we need to dare to ask ourselves the hard questions posed by them!

By: Jonathan Kranz

Jonathan Kranz — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 13:10:47 +0000

Why is it that when someone offers reasonable criticisms of Twitter and the Twitterocracy, defenders assume the underlying problem is that the critic doesn’t “get it” and that once that person “gets it,” they’ll join the rest of the crowd in the hosannas?
Isn’t it possible that someone can “get it” and simply not want it?

By: Liz Strauss

Liz Strauss — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 12:56:52 +0000

I really think that Twitter is that any networking situation. You find what you look for. If we approach it like a “hunter,” people respond as if we’re invading their space. If we approach it as a “listener and learner,” people respond differently — they’re more attracted to what we say.
What Twitter offers is what networking always has AND it adds to that value of the reach and speed of the Internet.

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 02:51:54 +0000

don’t take this as critical, but I sense an attitude in the text. It seems to me that it will take you a while “to get it.” i.e. Start with the title of the blog post, says student (professor) is not ready to listen or learn, just yet. i.e. “social media is here to stay,” not a very profound statement, please teach me something I don’t already know. i.e “people you follow don’t necessarily follow you back.” not every date i asked to go to bed with me took me up on the opportunity. check out some of the perry belchers video’s on Youtube and he will teach you how to engage people at a party.

By: Allen Weiss

Allen Weiss — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 21:46:21 +0000

Hi Lewis
Actually, the reason why I said it was a sales tool is because I noticed a number of people who basically answer questions by sending the asker to their site, with the intention of getting the reader to hire them. If that’s not a sales too, I’m not sure what is. Again, I’m not saying this is a bad thing, it’s just that it should be called what it is, a selling media.

By: Mike P

Mike P — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 20:08:32 +0000

Allen,
Nothing will ever replace the face-to-face aspect of Social Interactions. The survivors will find a way to blend in both online and off-line activities – this has been happening, and will hopefully continue.
Mike

By: Lewis Green

Lewis Green — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:56:42 +0000

Allan, I agree with everything you wrote except it being a sales tool. Maybe I don’t recognize selling when I see it, but I can’t think of a single example of being asked to buy something.
For me, Twitter is not social not is it a tool that delivers results, at least for me. However, it does deliver value for me in the form of shared URLs.
I no longer have the time for RSS or for visiting blogs or websites on the chance I will find someting I am interested in. However, when some I trust shares their post or a news item or an RT, I usually find value in that. I try to reciprocate by doing the same.

By: Allen Weiss

Allen Weiss — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 14:35:06 +0000

Thanks to all who have responded to this so far. As you can see, I tried to be as honest as I can with my experiences. It seems, frankly, that like this post (and the interactions that have resulted) that this seems more social than what I typically experience on Twitter. But does it take a post that excites people to respond to make it more social for me? Ah, maybe that’s the interesting question.

By: Ed Richardson

Ed Richardson — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 14:02:52 +0000

Hi Allen,
Glad to see you’ve taken the dive and tried Twitter thus allowing you to comment on it with some insight.
I think the Twitter platform fits nicely into the Social Media arena.
You’ve made some interesting points, but not all I agree with.
You used the analogy of a party at one point and I think this fits Twitter best.
It is like a party, sometimes some groups are just too clique to allow you join their conversation, but hey that’s social life everywhere, ask your daughter and I am sure she’d agree.
It inevitably is being used as a sales tool, but this was always going to happen. I just ignore their calls, pretty much like I do at home.
As for following others that don’t follow you back. I’ve read a lot of Neal Stephenson’s books, that doesn’t mean that he’ll want to read what I write.
Like life, Twitter can be tough nut to crack and many will ignore you, thinking you have nothing to add to their stream of thoughts. That’s their choice and I don’t lose any sleep over it.
I personally like Twitter and have talked about it a few times on my blog. I believe it has value to add to “the discussion”.
But its not going to be everyone’s cup of tea.

By: Rob Lubow

Rob Lubow — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 13:56:18 +0000

For all the twitter users who “get it,” there are at least a dozen starting every day who are failing to get it and are feeling distraught.
It’s nice to hear honest observations from someone who is in the process of getting it.
I had the same experience, it’s nice to see them articulated so well.

By: Leigh Duncan-Durst

Leigh Duncan-Durst — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 13:44:51 +0000

Hi Alan,
As Mack said, you point out some great insights. I do believe that many of these tools are in their infancy and we will see some change and evolution in they are used, and how discussions are threaded and looped in to us over multiple devices. I do think it will help redefine what we think is “social.”
As for “Twitchers” I wrote a post about “Bait and Twitching” after our chat. I also listed other “twepulsive” behavior and what I look for when I follow someone. Here’s the link:
http://livepath.blogspot.com/2009/02/bait-and-twitch.html
In the end, as I unplug and go to hold my baby or snuggle with my hubby – I realize how social media cannot replace the warmth of face-to-face, human interaction. I’m fine being “old school” like that.
Thanks for the post!

By: Craig

Craig — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 13:40:16 +0000

Oh, and by the way: Twitter is so yesterday: 2 is the new 140
http://www.twittwo.com

By: Rodney Rumford

Rodney Rumford — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 13:36:47 +0000

Allen,
Interesting take on Twitter. You have some valid points. Your experience is dictated by who you follow.
I do not folow everyone that follows me. If i have no desire to connect to them or listen to them I simply do not follow. I have a follow process and criteria that they must meet for my use case.
How has twitter become a pure selling tool?? Show some example tweets that make you think this.
People opt in to hear those messages. The power is all with the user. They can unfollow at any time if they feel they are being sold to.
A lot of “connections & discovery” occur on twitter and then the convos go into DM or email or the telephone or real world meetings. So real social connections do occur.
You have to realize that Twitter is a new communications form/channel; and not necessarily a social network as it is being labeled.
“Sure, you can jump into their conversation” most people welcome that behavior. they don’t think of it as barging in. It might help to think of it as a comment and not barging in.
“@iThinkMedia I’m enjoying all the creativity & wit that @literacyadviser and @CaryRN added!” Yes you need to take the effort and look at who these people are. Think of it as SMS text broadcasting and you get to decide what to do with it. You know how in real life there are people that you know that connect people? Well twitter is that person.
I could go on and on in long form; but twitter has helped me to be brief. Kinda.
Cheers!
Rodney Rumford

By: Craig

Craig — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 13:34:53 +0000

EXCELLENT post, Allen. Like you, I've spent some time these last few months focusing more than ever on Twitter (I've been there under one or another name since 2007), and I think it's suffering from massive self-infatuation and an astonishing level of irrational exuberance. Which is not to say that it's not interesting and doesn't have some real potential in certain circumstances (though I'm not quite clear on what Twitter's potential for monetizing the service might be), but I do think a lot of people on Twitter need to calm down, take a deep breath, and put the service into some kind of rational perspective. My biggest problem with Twitter right now is the signal-to-noise ratio. More here: http://www.lohad.com/?p=2458 Of course, that can be addressed in large part by who and how one follows. I like following mainly reliable news sources, industry experts, and professional associates. That keeps the signal relatively high. (How often do you venture into the "Everyone" stream? Yikes!) If you're looking to build followers? Well, I posted my best advice over here: http://www.lohad.com/?p=2654 Ultimately, though, I think for most people Twitter is too clubby and cliquey -- and contributes to SNF (Social Networking Fatigue): http://www.lohad.com/?p=2503 Maybe Bing is right? http://stanleybing.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/02/02/twitter-paranoia/

By: mack collier

mack collier — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 13:30:04 +0000

Allen it’s so funny because two years ago I was where you are right now with Twitter. Friends kept telling me how amazing it was, and that I needed to be there. I kept trying to understand it, and never ‘got’ it.
But some really smart people were getting a lot of value from Twitter, so I stuck with it. I think it really resonated for me when I started following a lot of people that weren’t active in marketing and social media. I suddenly found I had 20 different conversations going on at once. Everything from the future of social media, to getting kids ready for school, to a woman describing local merchants as she live-tweeted from her Honduras vacation. It made for a fascinating tapestry of human experiences, all coming at me at once.
Then I started getting involved in conversations. What I found is that as I would start talking to someone about a topic, others would notice our conversation and join in. Others would start tweeting stuff like ‘Guys if you aren’t following the conversation about the value of Twitter between @allenweiss and @mackcollier, you should be’.
Just last night, I watched the Grammys, something I hadn’t had the slightest desire to do in about 20 years. But I watched because I saw everyone tweeting about the show, and noticed one of my friends was actually there and live-tweeting the show, especially what was happening during commercials. It became a social experience that we were all sharing.
I think Twitter is something that you have to stick with, and try using in different ways before you ‘get’ it. At least that’s how it was for me.

By: F. Andy Seidl

F. Andy Seidl — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 13:27:20 +0000

Allen, I think you focus too heavily on two rather minor details.
First, “twitcher” are inevitable and easily managed (see SocialToo.com for a service that automatically cleans them away). Spammers are a pain, to be sure, but they have not (completely) ruined e-mail.
Second, it is not always practical to follow everyone that follows you. While this may not be an issue for someone with a couple hundred followers, it someone with thousands simply cannot follow that many (in any meaningful way). This is the same reason that while Bob Dylan, for example, can’t respond individually to every e-mail, he still has millions of folks that want to hear from him.
Twitter is an important social media phenomenon. Complete with “social” elements.