I'm wondering if to use Twitter, and if so, how best to use it. Whilst it looks as though it might be of some value, right now I'm frankly unable to put it into any kind of meaningful sense.
Is it a blog replacement? Clearly not - there's no way to develop an argument or include much more than the stripped down basic text. Where would this post have been if I'd been limited to 140 characters? (OK, count them - right in the middle of 'unable' which is a fair measure of my ability to make posts that succinct).
Is it an IM replacement? On this, I'm a little more ambiguous. Given the right clients, it can do most of the direct communication tied up in Messenger, for instance. But then I'm forced to ask 'why?'. What's the advantage of Twitter over Messenger? Both have PC and mobile clients. Is Twitter simpler to use than IM? Maybe, but it also has a big potential disadvantage of being too open. Sometimes I want my conversations to be relatively private.
The basic idea of Twitter - type what you are doing right now - strikes a wrong chord in my old-fashioned mind. There may be a new generation coming along who don't have either an expectation of privacy, or the general desire for it, and this group may well grasp Twitter and its like with open and unrestricted enthusiasm. And I'll admit, there's absolutely nothing to force anyone to keep it updated constantly. But you run the risk of disappearing off the radar if you don't update; you'll lose followers if you don't have anything interesting to say; so there's a social pressure to keep it active, and as stimulating as you can.
I suspect eventually, that much of the excitement will die down and, having found that it's largely hype, a lot of the userbase will just drop it, moving on to the next big thing in communication. And I think we're already halfway there - isn't Youtube accepting live video input? Helmet cams will be the next big fashion accessory, and we'll all be able to see what the contributors are up to, instead of relying on hearsay. And that is scary.
(Pete - on Twitter as @pemur)
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