Twitter is the first technology to make me feel old. As more and more people started using it, I kind of grumbled on the sidelines thinking “What can you say in 140 characters? Twitter doesn’t make any sense! Kids these days and all their newfangled technology drive me crazy!”
Oops!
Now I’m a Twitter fan. My Twitter handle is @tactphil and you can find my Twitter home page here. I’ve found that Twitter is actually a very, very useful way to source interesting information, keep tabs on “what people are talking about” and receive quick input from people with similar interests.
Over on Twitter, I’ve been sending out interesting links that I don’t post here on the blog. So if you are an information hungry, philanthropy fan, give it a try and follow me at @tactphil.
10 Comments
Sean, I agree, but I’m finding that just knowing Twitter is out there and that I can/should be reading feeds from everyone (and the great links they’re sending out), it’s “twoverwhelming.”
More on this idea here:
http://sashadichter.wordpress.com/2009/02/19/twoverwhelmed/
Ha! You and I seem to be on the same blogging wavelength recently!
Twitter is a fire hose. I think the focus on following a ton of people is misguided. It is all about following the best filters.
This past fall I dipped into email and twitter overload at the same time. This post from Beth Kanter really helped me regain some perspective. Filtering is absolutely important. Not feeling guilty about the inability to keep up with what we’re letting through the filter helps, too!
http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2008/10/blogher-boston.html
Christine Egger
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Ha! I’m surprised Twitter makes you feel old – I think most of us “millenials” find Twitter to be unusual. According to Pew “Twitter use is not dominated by the youngest of young adults. Indeed, the median age of a Twitter user is 31. In comparison, the median age of a MySpace user is 27, Facebook user is 26 and LinkedIn user is 40.”
Now having spent too much of my time this week on Twitter (totally your fault), I can see its value as a tool, but like the other commenters, I’m starting to feel information overload – in between my already overflowing Google Reader and email accounts, I find that I have less time for other things, including my blogging.
So for the sake of productivity, I’m going less Twitter + more blogging/commenting.
Sean,have you considered linking Twitter RTs with the blog? Imagine all the back and forth commentary. 😉
Marshall McLuhan was known for reading only the left hand page in books–said it gave him the gist while leaving room for his “noodle.” Twitter is best approached the same way, I think.
I’m almost sorry I discovered Twitter. One, it’s addicting. Two, it’s so loaded with information I don’t how to make time for it and follow all those incredibly valuable links people are posting. Three, I feel like I must be living in a cave compared to how on top of everything everyone else is twittering about. Is there hope for me?
Bruce, there’s absolutely hope. You need a good filtering tool (like Tweetdeck) and then you need to set time limits on how often you check it out (1o minutes max, for example), unless it’s your full-time profession to be trolling Twitter. Otherwise, it can be a huge time commitment.
Adin, what do you mean “link Twitter RTs with the blog”?
check out how Lucy did it with her Twitter section on her blog: http://philanthropy.blogspot.com/. That’s one approach. Others have simply embedded Twitter re-tweets right into the Comments on blogs.
I haven’t found the perfect tool yet myself, but there are a number of approaches blogger have taken to link Twitter with their blogs. WordPress has a specific plugin called Twitter Tools. If you want to look at some other options, here’s a good overview of some tools: http://www.techtreak.com/2008/09/16/10-awesome-twitter-tools-as-wordpress-plugins/