Can I Have This Twitter?

By Nettie Hartsock - Apr 04 , 2008

The Net continues to buzz about Twitter, and at least once a week I have an author ask me what “Twitter” is, if I “Twitter,” and if they should “Twitter,” too.

So I thought I would do a short write-up on Twitter (the application—not actually doing the write-up itself on Twitter—make sense?) . Like several of the new media tools (Web 2.0, social media tools, etc.) Twitter is getting quite of bit of twitter-worthy buzz on the Web.

First, let me briefly describe Twitter. Basically, it’s having a live conversation in real-time with a ton of folks who can be or might not be in the same room with you. Remember being young and passing notes around in a boring math class, and each person would write a bit more on the note? This is what Twitter does. Twitter.com gives users the capability to post short messages about what they’re doing at the moment, using a Web interface, IM or SMS, to communicate with fellow Twitter friends or with the “Twittering” public at large.

And, yes, there are folks who think people are spending too much time on these tools and twittering their real lives away, and I understand that concern. I’m a bit of a Web dinosaur because I’ve been on the World Wide Web since 1996 and before that I was on the Metaverse and the moo, and even worked at IBM and wore a pressed navy skirt every day to work. (Oh, those were the good ol’ days. :>)

While I think you can become too addicted to all these tools, I also think that everything in moderation is good. I like Twitter because, as a person who has worked in a one-woman office for over 15 years as a writer and tech journalist, it’s pretty fun to feel a part of a bigger group of peers and read their Twitter posts during the day. (Hey, my mom is even in my Twitter network, so she knows I’m actually still gainfully employed and at my computer. :> ) And there are some who say the more social media tools you employ, the higher your Web presence, although I don’t think that has been specifically quantified in terms of Twitter and what it’s impact is long-term.

Twitter experienced its own bit of controversy, too, when just last month in a little ol’ sleepy Texas town called Austin, at SXSW there was a bit of a tech range ruckus when some folks at the back of the room started live-twittering and critiquing an ongoing interview helmed by Sarah Lacey with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. The “twittering” critiqued Sarah’s too-laid-back style of interviewing and her incessant hair twirling, and the twittering got way out of hand and a bit of a twitter tussle occurred between Lacey and the audience. See the interview at YouTube here.

I can’t tell you whether or not you should take a twitter-dance with Twitter, but I can tell you that it keeps me connected to folks. The big thing for writers to consider with any social media tools is whether or not it will help them stay connected to people or be disruptive of their time and energy. I for one would love to see what Stephen King or Roy Blount Jr. might Twitter if they were twittering!