What is Twitter Good For?

I completely agree with you that is why I am building something to remedy this issue (not just the twitter “conversation” but all web conversations).

We should have an alpha up in a few weeks and would love to send you an invitation to get your opinion.

Yea, I see what you mean, but I disagree. Twitter WAS built for status updates. Then people started branding themselves. Then, users started to have conversations. Twitter’s API has changed dramatically because of the way people have started using Twitter. Twitter continues to grow & change, so do the users, & how they use it.

I think you have somewhat of a point. But, I disagree. I twitter is where conversations are happening. If I see something that someone writes I will @ them. It is quick. I don’t have to fuss with knowing that persons email address. And sometimes less than 140 characters is enough to say something without an email. How many times have you read something on twitter and commented on what someone posted? Just because you are not doing it doesn’t mean that other people are also not doing it. And who says that I need YOU to follow my conversation stream with someone else? If the two people in the conversation thread understand the conversation how is that broken? They are set in a time line for a reason.
I personally enjoy having quick conversations on twitter. I’ve asked an author a quick question about his book and got a response in under 5 min. I didn’t need an email to get my response. An @ was enough. He responded then I responded back. Done. I turned around and did purchase his book. I even got it with a signature and a note from the author.

I’ve notified a company of issues I was having with a service that they offered. They in turn got it fixed. It only took 4 tweets. No email needed.

Twitter is a great tool for having conversations and interacting with a company or brand. It allows a lot more than just directly throwing a brand out there and expecting people to follow it.

Just my thoughts.

Thanks for this interesting perspective.

Well, I kind of agree with you. I am annoyed when I visit someone’s Twitter page and see a constant stream of replies to people that, in and of themselves, make no sense.

I am of the belief that, conversation or not, each Tweet should stand on it’s own. A stranger should be able to go to your Twitter page and make sense of just about Tweet there. Anything else looks sloppy to me.

Having said that, there are times when people Tweet me to ask a question about one of my social media conferences or how to do something at my social networking site or whatever. We may not be following each other. In that case, it makes sense to Tweet back a reply. I try to do this in a way that makes it clear what I am saying to the person so that, if anyone visits my page, they are not totally confused by the reply.

From time to time, I ask people’s opinion about a topic on Twitter. A few of the replies I receive are sometimes interesting enough to Tweet back a reply to. Again, not a long, drawn out forever conversation, but enough to make it a good learning experience and helpful to others.

These back and forth replies also result in some new business, which is reason enough for me not to cut them off.

Thanks again for a thought provoking post.

In my experience, Twitter is a giant self-fellating blob of non-technical “social media” enthusiasts. FriendFeed or just plain old Facebook statuses work for me.

Three letters, I R C :)

The simple message format of Twitter allows applications to use the content in many different ways. I think this is the beauty of Twitter. Offering too many features directly within Twitter itself diminishes what others can create on the platform.

Hi Chris,

Twitter may not be designed for conversations, however it is a good opportunity to break the ice with interesting people, then if you want to take it to the next level, then use facebook.

What puts me off following people on twitter is people that do not engage with other people, a twitter stream full of links or self absorbed tweets puts me right off.

So I like to see @replies from/to strangers, that’s how you get to know people. It’s like walking into a room full of people you don’t know and saying nothing because that’s not what the room was designed for.

I’m not saying this just because the big hitters in social media are saying it, it’s just common sense.

The world would be a very boring place if we used everything the way it was designed to be used. We wouldn’t progress as a human race.

WoW! Thanks 4 this video Chris!

I enjoyed our “hallway debate” at ReThink Hawaii, and our continued conversation at the break table with Jordan afterwards.

I’ve found the coolest thing about Twitter is that everyone gets to use it for how they see fit.

But I’ll admit, I’m stoked you “came around” to seeing where I was coming from re: Twitter being about the conversation — even though it’s hard to track (I’ll be the 1st to admit FriendFeed does a WAY better job at that).

Takes a Big Man to admit what you did in this video. #UberImpressive!

Deborah Micek
AKA: @CoachDeb

PS: Lucky 4 you I dig opinionated, passionate geeks.

Three times I’ve tried to use Twitter and three times I’ve come away with the same opinion. Following people who randomly blurt out things is senseless. My company tried it for status updates among ourselves and some customers but email and our cell phones worked better.

Unless Twitter changes somehow, this is just like a stock market bubble waiting to burst.

Great point of view. I totally agree with you Chris , I’ve seen a lot on twitter which has becom into something else than posting status from each user. This is th proper way to use twittr.
Greetings from Mexico !

Dude, you’re obviously not using the right tools on Twitter.

You can have a conversation on there and it really isn’t that hard to follow. Most clients now have a link attached that allow you see exactly what tweet it is that someone replied to and multi-threaded conversations can easily be seen as well if you have the right tools.

However, I do understand what you’re saying dude. Twitter should eventually add support for multi-threaded conversations.

I can see your reason for using Twitter, however I disagree with the overall assessment of what Twitter should be used for. I think conversations are used quite often on Twitter. I know I use them, but not all the time. It definitely helps build brand and give credit to your brand that you are a real person. People like interacting with one another and although you may feel one way, I believe conversations are easy to track on Twitter. That never was an issue for me, but to each his own. Overall, everyone has their own reason for using Twitter and there is no right or wrong answer.

Damn. All those “conversations” I thought I was having on Twitter seemed so real.

I certainly get your point about Twitter but using Facebook???

I quit Facebook when one person could hijack my friend status page with their stupid never ending game updates.

Everyone that I interact with and myself have used/tested Twitter in many different applications…. They and myself all agree that Twitter is a total waste, with no legit reason for it’s use or it “popularity”… I’m left looking at people that find it “a must have” thing with a puzzled, confused, wtf look. As Chris stated it just hasn’t worked enough of the gibber jabber nonscence to be worth looking at as a main stream program for any kind of communications, IM’s and e-mail have this market. It was when geek.com started looking like twitter that I stopped logging into Chris’s blog community… quite fankly I could care less who’s sipping tea at grama’s house, and spent time petting their cat…. Twitter is a waste of my valuable time and unfortunatly so has the blog community… only if I have time to waste, which isn’t often do I ever log onto blog anymore on Geeks.com.

–Eric

I see your point, but your analogy with the screwdriver makes me disagree. In the same way that a hammer is designed to hit nails, in a world hammers, one could serve as a perfectly good door stop to some. No offense to Twitter. Its a great tool! but, most tools tools are almost never used in the way it was designed to be, especially when everyone has one. But then again I dont tweet, so what do I know….

[...] mentioned recently that he felt Twitter was not a place for conversations, which you can watch here.  I couldn’t disagree more, but everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I see where he [...]