McKinnon: Twitter has jumped the shark
Daily Beast columnist Mark McKinnon has put Twitter on death watch after viewing President Obama’s speech last week and seeing members of congress tweeting during the speech. His column was spot on for me, even calling out Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) for his inane tweet. From the column:
“Twitter is not a business. I know its founders would like to think it is. It is, for the most part, a diversion.”
Ha! I feel vindicated. I don’t like Twitter. I don’t get Twitter. I have hundreds of people following me and more adding me daily — and I haven’t even tweeted in weeks. Somebody explain to me how Twitter is not just mental masturbation?
Ultimately McKinnon sees the value in the new communications tools, but his point reminds me of the old United Airlines commercial where the boss hands out plane tickets to his sales staff to actually go meet face-to-face with customers to earn back their business. McKinnon concludes:
“Let me be clear. Social media provides new ways to connect and interact with people; and it is a powerful and important tool. There are hundreds of dynamic applications that are improving the way we communicate, work and live. But, it is just as important that we stand back from time to time and focus as much on what we are saying as how we are saying it. In the end, whether it’s snail mail, e-mail or Facebook, my point is that it’s ultimately most important to communicate in a meaningful way. Don’t just fall in love with the tool. Fall back in love with having real conversations.”
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Comments
March 2nd, 2009 at 8:35 am
Sorry Len, but you and McKinnon are both wrong. I use Twitter for 1)disseminating information about events 2)sharing interesting articles I read that I believe others will find helpful 3)learning from others who know more than I do, including politicians, reporters, pundits, and finance gurus, and 4)listening to the general tone of the environment so I can be a more informed participant. I have also used Twitter to raise money for causes, to provide support to cancer patients, to counsel depressed teen-agers, and in general to give back to the community that gives so much to me.
If you don’t get Twitter, listen to it for a while and you will realize it is a big world of caring and sharing people, and one of the best communities for this economic crisis.
March 2nd, 2009 at 9:30 am
It’s not that Twitter is “right” or “wrong.” Twitter is a different tool.
Some people hate talking on the phone, so they don’t talk for hours. Some people don’t check their email every day. They’d rather talk by phone.
We’ve all heard the stories about how fast Twitter is growing, but it’s not the end-all-be-all. No one application is. It’s just a different way to disseminate info and communicate.
Why all the fuss? If Twitter is a good fit for you, use it. If not, don’t!
March 2nd, 2009 at 9:39 am
Len, while I disagree with you, I have to say you are not in danger of being completely blindsided. We all use Twitter for different reasons. (For me Francine’s #3 is my #1 reason.) The reality is, there are other ways to share and stay informed, and I suspect you’re doing it by other means.
March 2nd, 2009 at 9:41 am
Twitter has strengthened my relationships with local media and PR pros and educated me faster and easier than any seminar or RSS feed could. Yes, its not for everybody, but you can’t knock it till you actually use it the way it is supposed to be used -which is by conversing and interacting with the people you follow and people who follow you.
I don’t know what I’d do without Twitter now…its better than the phone or email at times and its definitely become an essential part of my virtual office.
March 2nd, 2009 at 10:07 am
I’ll tweet my comments later.
March 2nd, 2009 at 10:07 am
Twitter’s helped me connect with a whole new group of smart, interesting people. And Twitter’s hashtags helps create centralized info depositories on specific topics in specific locations. Hello #phx!
March 2nd, 2009 at 10:16 am
At Forty, Twitter has become pretty intertwined with the way we do business. We interview and hire through Twitter. People get to know us and eventually hire us through Twitter.
From what I’ve seen, it’s had a huge impact on Phoenix, at least in certain industries. In a city that’s so spread out, it helps create a sense of community and mutual awareness among people who normally would only see each other a few times a year. (e.g., I haven’t seen Charlotte in months, but I know she enjoyed the new Food City commercials and that she went to the Cubs game.)
Sounds trivial. A lot of times it *is* trivial. But even something goofy like knowing someone went to a Cubs game helps you feel like you have more of a bond with them than you would if you didn’t know that. That means that when I need to hire a PR person, Charlotte’s got an edge over someone I’ve never met or talked to, just because she’s taken the time to put herself out there.
That has an actual business impact that goes beyond what might be immediately apparent. It makes money because it’s not about making money.
March 2nd, 2009 at 11:08 am
A friend of mine said it best this weekend. Twitter is an infrastructure tool and can be thought of as the brides/highways of the social web. To that I would add it’s a form of mind share / search engine / social book marketing all rolled in one for me. When I have questions and ideas I run it by Twitter folks and you’d be surprized at how good of a response I get. At times its better to ask questions on Twitter than Google. For example. What’s the best Bid Management tool for PPC? That question gets a massive response on Google, but on Twitter, humans a few humans respond with some amazing clarity.
Francine and James (above) make some great comments and I’m with them on that as well.
March 2nd, 2009 at 11:28 am
Len,
I don’t believe a pundit telling us what works and what doesn’t, and what is valid and what is not is really the meat and potatoes of all this. The users, the listeners, and the audience dictate whether to use email, the newspaper, or twitter, or whatever.
I automatically loose trust in someone completely writing off a tool, an idea, or a service. Sure, twitter can be irrelevant at times, but other times, can be a great tool to promote, to do PR, to give status updates. I use twitter to get news and status updates for my web host.
Dell used it over the holidays to promote deals. http://www.dell.com/twitter Smart companies use tools to their advantage, and don’t let weaknesses, platforms, or implicit rules dictate decisions.
The goal of twitter for many users could be similar to your about section on this site, which reads: “The site is a resource, a place to share successess, and a place to stay in touch. Come back often,…The more interactive the better so send us your news, information, scuttlebutt and anything else worth sharing.”
Twitter can have the same goal. Or not. It depends on how you exploit the strengths of the service.
March 2nd, 2009 at 11:54 am
Quick update regarding Dell and Twitter:
http://venturebeat.com/2008/12/15/twitter-has-made-dell-1-million-in-revenue/
March 2nd, 2009 at 12:04 pm
I was directed to this blog through a link on twitter… ironic?
March 2nd, 2009 at 2:13 pm
I find Twitter quite valuable in many respects, like immediate access to information, deals and trends. Still, I must say that the comment, “Fall back in love with having real conversations” resounded strongly with me. I tend to stop following those whose tweets I find overboard, meaningless or rude (and there’s a lot of that.) Like anything, you have to search for the cream rising to the top.
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:29 pm
First, GREAT post! Very interesting. Second, I agree with many of you that wrote it’s just another way to communicate and share info. In many ways, Twitter has replaced email and text for me. If it works in your community of friends, business colleagues, etc., then learn best practices and join the conversation.
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:31 pm
I agree and disagree with many of the opinions above. For one, Twitter is just a fun tool to use. It’s so damn entertaining to read what everyone is saying and sharing. Second, the site has given me direct access to people. I’ve never met James or Mike in-person, but I’ve connected with each of them via Twitter. I re-connected with Francine and Charlotte through the site, too, and I haven’t seen either of them in more than a year. I also agree with Francine and Angelo that Twitter is a great learning and listening tool. I tell people that, because of Twitter, I am getting a free MBA in Social Media because I have the ability to easily gather articles and knowledge from people who have much more experience in the space than I do. And, like Paul says, it’s also a great PR tool, especially for mammoth companies like Dell.
On the other hand, as Len points out, I find Twitter to be a time drain and a popularity contest. Aside from the people who get paid to be social media experts, I wonder how certain people have the time to send that many tweets in a day? I can’t keep up. And, I don’t agree with the people and companies who randomly follow hundreds or thousands, expecting to be followed back so they can increase their own number of followers. And once you follow them, they stop following you!
In the end, I find Twitter to be very useful and have no plans to stop using it.
Sam
March 2nd, 2009 at 4:29 pm
I think everyone has made some excellent points in this. At the end of the day my summary is this: use Twitter as a great marketing tool in your arsenal, but don’t let it dominate your life and be your singular or majority means of communication.
March 2nd, 2009 at 9:01 pm
The biggest factor contributing the saturation of Twitter is its price: free. On Feb 10, the Silicon Valley Business Journal reported Twitter is now looking at ways commercial users could generate revenue for the company.
Now that Twitter has your business and the attention of your clients/associates/pitchees, would you stop using it if there was a fee attached?
March 2nd, 2009 at 9:43 pm
I’ve fallen in love with Twitter, and fallen in love with the real conversations I have in real life with the people I’ve met via Twitter.
If it doesn’t work for you, fine. But don’t say that because YOU don’t get it, that it’s a failure or pointless mental masturbation. That’s not a fair assumption, and way off the mark. A little objectivity can go a long way.
March 3rd, 2009 at 9:31 am
I agree with everyone’s comments here; particularly that twitter is like THE SM University where one can seek out his or her own favorite “professors”. I learn new things every single day that I participate in twittering.
And as far as you gaining followers daily, Len – that is an extremely high form of flattery. My guess is that those new followers see you as a person with good ideas and valuable opinions and therefore, are following you in hopes that they will learn something from you sharing your thoughts and experiences.
I do agree that we should “fall back in love with conversation” but isn’t this exactly what is happening right here? For me, now that I work at home and have only a four-month-old to converse with all day, I think of twitter as my virtual office. Yeah, sometimes the “water cooler” chatter is irrelevant and pointless but more often it is meaningful, insightful and entertaining all at once.
I just don’t see twitter dying off anytime soon. Peace, tweeps!
March 3rd, 2009 at 1:38 pm
Like many things on the Internet, people either “get” it, or they don’t. Two years ago I blogged about potential business applications for Twitter (http://mincedmedia.blogspot.com/2007/03/48-hours-in-twitterland.html) and since then, Twitter usage and applications have far surpassed my expectations. Want to track the first seeds of a breaking news story? You’re likely to see it tweeted in real time by someone on the scene. I can’t think of a better way to communicate to a group of people than this Web-based version of text messaging. Remember the SuperBowl/Comcast embarrassment this year? I tweeted my reaction in real time as I sat in front of my TV, and sent my concerns directly to a Comcast employee who hadn’t yet heard about it. If you want answers, insights or are just plain curious about people and the world in general, then Twitter fills that need.
March 3rd, 2009 at 1:48 pm
Oh, and get this. Caroline McCarthy, a CNET News staff writer, reported that a missing skier in the Swiss Alps was rescued this week with the help of Twitter and an iPhone. Yes, there was a sad not to that story, but I still think Twitter has won its case.
March 3rd, 2009 at 1:50 pm
It’s all social media folks. Use the tools how you like. Tweet, ReTweet, email, IM, Facebook, comment, but engage. If your tweets are a stream of nonsense then I will un-follow, unsubscribe, vote-down, de-link, slam, flame, subvert. If you provide content of value to MOI, and only MOI, then I will follow, ReTweet and champion your ideas. And perhaps we will begin turn our words into a conversation. But I don’t care how you reach me. I do care that you reach me. So reach me, follow, subscribe, aggregate… oh, hell, whatever.
Of Note: How can the AdAge badge below make sense? It’s a Power150 badge yet it says this blog is ranked #501! Isn’t that like WAY BELOW 150? I’m sure I’m missing something. Would someone social media me and let me know what that means? Thank you.
jmacofearth
Twitter - useless life-saver — Anders Ramsay.com Says:
March 3rd, 2009 at 10:04 pm
[...] I’m about to post a response as to why I both agree and disagree that Twitter sort of has Jumped The Shark of late, when I happened to take a gander at Digg and came across this fine piece of ironic [...]
March 3rd, 2009 at 10:07 pm
Well, I was going to post a comment about how I both agree and disagree with the idea that Twitter has Jumped the Shark, but ended up instead writing my own blog post about it.
http://www.andersramsay.com/2009/03/04/twitter-useless-life-saver
Thanks for the inspiration!
March 4th, 2009 at 9:27 am
Twitter’s usefulness? Well, for one, it obviously it offers promotional exposure. An @azbizreporter tweet brought me here from a half-world away (OK, so Pennsylvania’s not that far …).
Twitter also gives our readers (of a community news blog, The Sanatoga Post) a way to send us a heads-up on hyper-local stories of interest. We’ve published three articles in the past eight days that came in from reader tweets. It’s a modern-day whisper in the managing editor’s ear.
April 10th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
If you don’t get twitter by now, you’re doing it wrong.
Why are you writing a blog post about something you don’t get?
April 10th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
Oh, and it’s “hear hear”, not “here here”.