Monday, July 6. 2009
What is the point of Twitter?
A good question, although hardly original, and one which might reasonably be asked of anything new. Twitter, like many web-based applications, is flexible, adaptable and easy to enhance. Ease of change and instant feedback enable applications to evolve very quickly, to deliver what users want and need, but which may, or may not be, what was originally intended.
Such tools may deliver a very different value to many different user groups. We’ve seen Twitter used to capture, collate and present the views, opinions and coursework of scholars. We’ve seen the mobilisation and co-ordination of like-minded folk protesting political injustice. We’ve seen “word of Twitter” outpacing even the newest news services.
Many businesses are using it to share technical thinking and spread good and bad news. Cynical PR companies, (is there any other kind?) are trying to manipulate and mould opinion through obvious placement and the irritating use of bots (the concern here should be those who are less obvious and presumably, therefore, more successful).
Could Twitter replace the classic techniques of research, focus groups, user reps, market testing and broadcast marketing, consigning them to the history books?
Those of us who follow a peripatetic working life find it a handy replacement for the “office buzz”, a mixture of amusement, gossip and chat interleaved with work related pointers and discussion. It is “ambient intelligence” but with the additional virtue of being able to exclude timewasters, bores and bigots and to include an eclectic set of workmates with views far richer, wider and more exciting, intriguing and informative than the traditional occupants of the adjacent cubicles and their water-cooler views on Big Brother.
So, what is the point of Twitter? It depends. It depends on you, and me, and you and her and you and him and, (inevitably), Stephen Fry.
Follow us on twitter, type adaraassociates to find us.
“If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.” Lao Tzu
Many businesses are using it to share technical thinking and spread good and bad news. Cynical PR companies, (is there any other kind?) are trying to manipulate and mould opinion through obvious placement and the irritating use of bots (the concern here should be those who are less obvious and presumably, therefore, more successful).
Could Twitter replace the classic techniques of research, focus groups, user reps, market testing and broadcast marketing, consigning them to the history books?
Those of us who follow a peripatetic working life find it a handy replacement for the “office buzz”, a mixture of amusement, gossip and chat interleaved with work related pointers and discussion. It is “ambient intelligence” but with the additional virtue of being able to exclude timewasters, bores and bigots and to include an eclectic set of workmates with views far richer, wider and more exciting, intriguing and informative than the traditional occupants of the adjacent cubicles and their water-cooler views on Big Brother.
So, what is the point of Twitter? It depends. It depends on you, and me, and you and her and you and him and, (inevitably), Stephen Fry.
Follow us on twitter, type adaraassociates to find us.
“If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.” Lao Tzu
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