Why I Don’t Twitter And Why You Should
UPDATE: I did sign up for Twitter, here is why.
Within the small blogging community of people whose blogs I read and also read my blog, I think I am known for having a weird blog name and for not using Twitter. The blog name is for a different blog post, but this is my long awaited, much anticipated (maybe?…probably not) post with my thoughts on Twitter. For those of you who don’t know what Twitter is go read about it HERE and HERE.
I’ve known about Twitter for a long time. In fact I almost signed up before most everyone had heard of it or used it. The first reason why I didn’t was because I didn’t think anyone would do it which would defeat its purpose. Boy was I wrong. I’ll freely admit that. I’ll also admit that one reason why I won’t use it now is because I’m stubborn and don’t like to do the thing everyone is doing (wow this is good therapy). Let me start with a list of reasons why Twitter is amazing (yes I did just write that):
- It takes full advantage of the unlimited texting plans that almost everyone has now.
- You can stay in touch friends instantaneously.
- It can save lives.
- You might find a couch to sleep on instead of being stuck in the airport.
- People can stay connected to you without using email, blogging, or a phone call.
- It is free.
That is a lot of reasons why Twitter is pretty amazing. So maybe you should be using it. Now for why I’m not using Twitter yet and won’t in the future (at least I think so).
- I’m already busy. This is easily my biggest problem with Twitter. I have seen tons of people complain about being busy, leading distracted lives, or needing to get their priorities straight…and they Twitter. Most people are probably on their phones or their computers too much already, Twitter is just another excuse to use either a phone or computer to see what someone (who they don’t know) is doing.
- Most of the time 140 characters is not enough space to say anything meaningful. People call Twitter a “micro-blog,” a fancy name for a small blog. Those same people say blogging is a place to share about your life. I think blogging is a lot more powerful than that. My point is that it takes more than 140 characters to write a blog, and it usually takes more than 140 characters to write something meaningful (obviously there are exceptions).
- Most Twitters don’t even answer the question behind the premise of it all. Twitter was started as a way for you to tell people what you’re doing. A “twit” or “tweet” is supposed to answer the question: “what are you doing?”. But most of the time Twitter is filled with conversations that say “@soandso…..” Not only are these confusing if you haven’t seen the whole conversation, but imagine how annoying it is to get text messages with these stupid conversations all day long.
- People use Twitter to follow people they don’t even know. Ragamuffin Soul is a very popular blog written by Carlos Whittaker. He has almost 2,000 followers of his Twitters. I would assume that since Twitter is supposed to be telling people what you are doing, that those people who follow Carlos on twitter would be friends of his. But I tend to think that most people who follow Carlos on his twitter only know him through his blog. Now I’m all for a blog creating community, but do 2,000 people really need to do what Carlos is doing 24/7/365…that seems like a bit much.
- The quality of blogging goes down. Twitter takes time and because no one has an endless amount of time people sacrifice blogging time for their use of Twitter. I’ve seen the power of blogging…I haven’t seen much power to Twitter as far as changing lives. I’d rather see people use that time to make their blog content better.
- I’d like to keep some level of privacy. The more popular Twitter gets the more wackos are going to start using it for their benefit. I think it is ok for people to not know what I’m doing for a few days. The people that care will call me or text me. I remember when I first got Myspace back in 2004…it was cool to connect with friends more consistently. But then it got popular and the wackos started using it to do creepy things. I’m waiting for the first news story about how something bad happened because of Twitter.
Alright a lot of you who read my blog also Twitter…
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Tyler Braun.
while twitter may help some people find jobs or perhaps help you find a couch to sleep on- these are my anti twitter thoughts-
1- i don’t believe in text msg conversations. i don’t have unlimited either, i have 300 on my plan and barely use 50 a month. pick up the phone an call me.
2- if you can’t pick up the phone, spell words correctly and sent me an email…i sit in front of a computer most of the day, so it works well for me
3- i agree with you tyler on your #4 point against….we already follow people we don’t that well on facebook and other social networking…i can network just as well on facebook, w/ more interaction…
4- finally, i don’t have time to jot down my every whim during the day….
sorry twitter, i just can’t fall for you- my love is elsewhere
I do twitter and here’s why. First of all, it gives people a glimpse into my day. I don’t tell them everything I’m doing but it helps my congregation and other worship leaders (my main followers) see into the real life of Jan. I don’t have any messages sent to my phone, I do it all online except direct messages, which I get very rarely (that’s different than the @soandso). Yesterday I sent out that I was going to the hospital and asked for prayer for a good friend of mine. I was able to update her status (it was a serious situation) all morning and my congregation followed her progress in this way. When I left the hospital and drove through the drive through at Chik-fil-a one of our members was working and said “We’ve all been praying for Cathy all morning”. That’s one of the things I love about Twitter.
I started tweeting simply to post “snapshots” of my day on my blog, which Twitter updates automatically. It also automatically updates my status on Facebook, which has become a big tool for our church, amazingly enough. I update maybe 5 times a day and usually when I’m doing something interesting or need prayer or when something funny happens.
sometimes I do tweet in staff meeting because I KNOW the interim pastor and other staff are doing it and it’s just funny……
And my mom now knows what I do all day.
One more thing I use it for is letting people know what’s going on at church or what we’re prepping for. I’ve gotten alot of questions about that as people read that I’m “prepping to lead communion on Sunday”. People pray and ask questions about the service, etc. I sort of use it to publicize.
And Tyler, I thought you actually had a Twitter account?!
Tyler,
You simply crack me up…
i agree with everything you said and yet I twitter.
I dont like people using it as a replacement for blogging. It isnt.
I agree with what you said about carlos. but to a point and I will get to that in a minute.
I don’t like the idea of subscribing to somebodys tweets who doesnt return the favor. That isnt community.
now back to carlos and the main reason why I twitter.
it makes no sense to me why 6000 people read about whatever he is doing daily on the blog or 2000 on twitter. Other than connections to eachother. As far as the blog…no clue, but why would 2000 people want to see what he is doing…most of them I have no clue…the few who know him it makes sense.. But what does 2000 people reading do for him.
Twitter is instant and can be done anywhere.
An example…Carlos has to rush his daughter to the hospital.. when would he blog about that….maybe later in the day or if all is well when they get back…
When would he twitter…on the way to hospital…next to bed…talking to doc…etc.etc..
In the first instance he can get a community praying for his daughter maybe even after things are over…but with twitter people can be praying ASAP.
The guys who use it as a replacement for blogging are abusing it I think, but I recognize the importance of having a huge community that If I tweet…help! Pray! or Question! that I will have a ton of people either giving me answers or praying with me. That has been the selling point for me and I have seen it work in my on twitter life.
Jan- Yes I do have a Twitter account with nothing on it. I did it so no one could sign up under my name and email
Tyler,
I have to disagree with some of things you said about twitter – I’m not quite sure you understand it because you don’t use it. Maybe?
Twitter should NOT be used to send EVERY tweet you get to your mobile phone – yeah that would suck and the @conversations would make no sense. (In fact I twitter and don’t even have a moblie phone.)
You can set twitter to see ALL of the @replies or you can set it to ONLY show you the ones to people you are follwing. If I follow you, Jan and Joel, but you only follow Jan and me, then you see what I say to @janowen but if I do an @joelklampert then it never shows up in your feed. Make sense? (If not it will after using twitter for less than a week.)
I also disagree with the “only follow people you already know” mentality. Twitter is a means of communication – like the phone or blogs. Only following people you already know on twitter is like saying “I never call anyone on the phone unless they are close personal friend of mine.” Obviously people communicate information through their twitter feed that is valuable to strangers, otherwise they wouldn’t follow.
I’d love to see you on twitter bro
Why I don’t Twit:
1. I’m busy
2. You need to have friends to Twit (and I don’t Twit strangers)
3. I don’t have friends (and I’m telling no strangers that ‘I just had constipation eight minutes ago’
4. Friends that I have (all two of them including imaginary) both don’t Twit.
Forgot to say:
5. I only post quality posts
I recently signed up, after having been non-twitterpated. Being deaf, I do not use a cell phone and can not afford one simply to send text messages. I have a private Twitter page. I am keeping it small on purprose and recognize that I might hurt some person’s feelings by not accepting their request to ‘follow’ me. It is a risk. What pushed me into the ring? I am mostly homebound for awhile, caring for a chronically sick family member. I also love/crave to pray. Some people, I feel, I have been called specifically to pray for. When I can not be with those people on a regular basis, reading their Twitters (if they Twitter) allows me to have an idea of what I could be praying about, that is going on in their lives, on a day-to-day basis. It is usually a bountiful harvest.
I am up to a dozen (yes, a dozen) new friendship in real life that were a result of first interacting with somebody via Twitter. It’s a cocktail party on the web, and a great way to get to know somebody. Because of Twitter (DIRECTLY because of Twitter), I have made friends in other states and have even stayed at their house when I’m in town (what up, @jaredstill and @jillstill!). I’ve been drawn to people that have similar interests and passions as me (hello @inworship and @inprogress), and I keep in touch with people that I’m collaborating on projects with (nods to @markportrait and @auntmarvel).
Let me contradict you, but I only do this as I look at my own workflow. You see, I’m so danged busy I cannot afford to NOT be on Twitter. I can tell you for a fact that my work process is easier now because of Twitter. Driving the point home, let me put it another way…Twitter has made me more efficient than I was before I started using the tool, not less.
Let’s look at email: if you spend all day forwarding stupid ass stories that are obviously false if you look them up on snopes then your already busy life will get worse. If you use it like you are supposed to (attachment, collaboration, etc), then life gets easier. Apply that to Twitter: if you use it incorrectly, it’s a huge time waster and you can kiss your productivity goodbye. If you are smart about its use, you will increase your productivity considerably and visibly.
And that, my friend, is more than 140 characters about why you should be on Twitter.
Hey, I’ve even resisted reading your other posts about what Twitter actually *is*. I have a cellphone, but no texting. I’m not textually active. And I write too much already.
Great points from all of you.
I should point out that Billy is right…you don’t have to have texting to take advantage of Twitter. There are many web apps and desktop apps that you can use to use Twitter. I just think it becomes too similar to Facebook then. Twitter is fully taken advantage of with texting. And no, you don’t have to read all the @soandso conversations. But they do come, and most of the are annoying.
blah blah blah…just start twittering you boob! You are missing out…
I use it to supplement my blog. Comes in handy when on vacations and want to update family (OR TO USE WHEN YOUR WIFE GOES INTO LABOR EARLY!!! –> http://tinyurl.com/4wu7uy)
I will admit…it does become a little annoying with all the conversations going on. I try to use the Direct Message for something like that…
CJ Mills // http://www.visualtrademark.com
Kurt- NEVER!!!!
I believe Seth wrote…”I’m not textually active.”
haha, that is such an awesome line.
So I guess with all the viruses going on today, we shouldn’t be just texting just about anybody, especially strangers? Should we hold off on texting, until we find that special someone?
“it becomes too similar to Facebook” -
I use twitter to update my facebook status automatically. I write something once and it goes out to both audiences. That type of leveraged communication is what I call, “efficient.”
I have to agree with Matt on this one. Twitter, like email, is what you make of it.
I not only found my current job via Twitter, but I just another twitterer just gave me the best resource to link my Mac to my Pocket PC, therefore saving me SO much time.
I heart Twitter!
And… I heart you too… so it all evens out.
I too would love to see you on twitter Tyler!
I can’t speak for anyone else,
I can only tell you my own experience with Twitter.
Twitter has saved my life, my marriage, rescued my self esteem, and the sole reason why I have recently lost 16 pounds. I was going nowhere fast before being intoduced to twitter, and now I’m happy, successful, and emotionally stable.
No one can take that from me. Not Tyler, not anyone
I use Twitter so I can have one way conversations with people and they won’t interrupt me.
I can go an entire SEVEN STRAIGHT HOURS a day without talking to a single soul, yet still be communicating with people.
It CAN be kinda lame though when you twitter something that you think is super funny or deserving a response, and no one responds to it. That’s kinda a bummer.
If you’re holding out just cuz you said you’d never twitter, just do it for a trial period. If you don’t like it you can say you gave it a shot, if you end up liking it you’ll garner respect for showing the masses that you’re willing to publicly change your opinion.
Jenni- Wow that is pretty sweet. A job from Twitter, not bad.
Jan- I really don’t think me on Twitter is going to change the world, but you do have a way with words
Jay- I must say that I’m glad to see that being a leadership position at a large church has moved your heart closer to go and away from the things of this world…haha, great comment.
Jos- It certainly is possible…I can’t rule it out.
Wow…4 names that start with “J” have commented, just noticed that.
I am a sporadic twitterer, it’s a fun toy.
I use it mainly when I’m traveling because i crave my community
i read the page every day or so to keep up, but it’s not consuming
mostly i posted because my name begins with a J
I am concerned about how people have enough time to twitter, text, e-mail, blog and still be professional and get things done that need to be done. It is tempting to do it because so many are doing it. But I think I satisfied that with my blog. I’ll leave twitters for others.
Blogging suffers! I remember first starting out and feeling overwhelmed by both! But it works pretty well hand in hand now.
To respond to Don, sometimes you’ve got to turn it OFF! I could occupy my entire day answering emails, sending texts, putting together a post, and not get a single thing done! So I’ve got to turn my off. Unplug completely! My MacBook has become the greatest tool I have for my job and also the greatest distraction!
Matt Singley said “@$$”
Right now I’m in Shoot-me-if-Twitter mindset. I’ve noticed 1, 4 and 5 from joining Facebook.
I will reserve the right to change my mind and follow my kids on Twitter in the future if necessary though.
I’ve been wrestling with the idea that I should spend more time living my life vs. reading about and following other peoples’, and that’s just what I’m thinking from reading books, blogs and Facebook, and I don’t see how Twitter would help with that.
Hey, just found your blog through this post. Great blog. So, I guess you are Twittering now.
If so, I’m following you. Look me up.
http://www.twitter.com/ronedmondson
I don’t twitter and wondered if there were many that don’t….not that its a bad app, but I simply to don’ t have the time or real use for it, nor do I want everyone knowing whats going on 24/7/365….if something is important enough I can easily contact those that need to know and they can pass it along to others if they wish.