An argument for Twitter

So the professor of my court administration class was introduced to twitter by an article that was entirely negative and obviously written by someone who did not understand the phenomenon. I responded briefly that it was too bad that article was her first impression of Twitter because it was actually an interesting and evolving tool that can be adapted to many uses - social, professional, or otherwise. Here's the rest. I'm interested to know what you guys think.

"... And I don’t see how twitter can be used as a social network if there’s a limit of 140 words!!!??? L"

My response:

Re Twitter: Here in Fresno, the local Twitter “community” has grown such that when you join, if you take advantage of being able to “follow” other users, you can learn who is involved in what projects, whether they are professional or social (for instance, many real estate agents are using it as a marketing tool, and the arts community is using it as a way to market projects, Pecha-Kucha Nights, etc.). It has evolved into a tool, not just updating your friends on whether the sky is blue today or not. Its easy to look at it from an outside perspective and think, well, why would I participate in that, but once you’re involved, you can begin to imagine lots of other uses.

From my experience, I think the reason its different from other online or social networking tools like Facebook, etc., is that you are not limited to only befriending people that you already know – it is very acceptable to “follow” someone that you don’t know in order to see what they have to offer. For instance, I “followed” a local restaurateur because he posts his daily lunch specials. When I went to his nearby café, I introduced myself and now we are not only familiar, but he pointed me towards other people I wouldn’t have known, like a member of the “downtown association” who was putting together questions for the mayor’s forum that afternoon, or a guy who roasts coffee beans and sells them, even though his café is not open. Its just networking, and its attracting mostly Gen X & Y like crazy.

So it may lead to a business deal, or a friendship, or a conversation about the sky being blue, or nothing at all. But right now it doesn’t have that “stalker” or “predator” stigma that those other sites do. Yet. It will go out of favor when the next one comes along, whatever that is! Have you heard of Poken? I just read about this – it’s an electronic “business” card of sorts… Oh, technology. That’s my take, anyway.

An integrated life

Living an integrated life - profiles everywhere - transition from social to quasi professional - is this really what I (we) mean to do? Do I want to integrate all aspects of my life? Do I have a choice anymore?

Myspace was purely social. It was your life as you designed it - AWAY from work. So I'm a thirty-something professional. So what? My Myspace will play you the song thats in my head and display silly pictures of Jenny and I imitating statues at Disneyland. I can tell my friends what I've been up to and "blog" about the concert last weekend. I won't get too graphic though because my 14-year old cousin friended me. Thats great though! How else would I ever have a relationship with her besides random family weddings and funerals?

But wait. I just remembered - I'm a thirty-something professional. So in the real world I re-join FLYP. My dad, a business owner and professional salesman by trade, always encouraged me to do some professional networking and join Rotary Club or something. So FLYP is the Gen X Rotary-type organization, and I did. And I met some interesting people that were interested in drinking beer and promoting their whatever-they-promotes. My career, however, doesn't require much networking at the moment. But I'd like to think that I have something to offer if only in the social sense - I know some people, right? So if I meet you and you're looking for this type of network, I can recommend old so-and-so because he's looking for the same thing. But that only goes so far, doesn't it?

But wait. Facebook is the new Myspace. Everybody who's anybody is all about Facebook. On facebook you can send your friends pretend Starbucks and join "organizations" that show everyone how politically savvy you are because you signed a petition to stop cutting down trees in the Arctic - great. Okay, so its not all ridiculous - it does have some nice features that notify you about your friends updates and such. But it is conspicuously less juvenile in appearance and aaaaaalmost more professional. Oh, no, did I just say professional? Crap, I'd better take down that picture of all of us with a bunch of empty cocktail glasses! LOL right?

Then along comes Twitter. Well, Twitter's been there and bloggers like E had been tweeting and the idea of such connectivity had been kind of a turnoff until, of course I joined and connected with a bunch of amazing people - local and otherwise, but mostly local. But in joining this other type of network I am now introduced to the bazillions of ways that various groups socialize online in addition to the "norms" I was familiar with.

But with the many circles of influence coming together, now there's a consolidation movement. First lets connect Twitter to Facebook automatically. No, we collectively changed our minds - lets do it selectively. Wait, which online profile should I point my Twitter followers toward? Are they social? (Myspace, Facebook, LiveJournal, etc.) Are they networky? (LinkedIn, etc.) Are they bloggy? Oh, no, I created a Blogger but because I'm not actually all that interesting, who cares about just my blog unless its part of one of the other sites that has pictures and music and stupid Starbucks that people gave me? Better make a decision! What will it be? Quick - make some time in your busy busy schedule to actually sit down and think about what you want your online profile to say about you to new people that you are now "networking" with.

Stop the press, though, because I don't have a Poken yet. What? Pokemon? No, silly, its the digital card - not a business card, though, a personal card - that provides your online profile information to whoever you meet that also has a Poken. See, if you have a Poken and I have a Poken and we meet, we put are digital cards together and they have some digital Poken sex and exchange all of our information. So we've just met and instead of taking personal time and getting to know someone by talking to them and meeting their friends, we are able to explore each others details without any pesky interaction. Oh, I feel like the world is moving backward sometimes...

Anyway, I just remembered that I'm a thirty-something professional. So I'd better be careful now that I'm actually networking instead of just playing online catchup with my actual friends. If this is how new people are going to see me, how should I integrate all of these things? Should I edit my Myspace page that I so carefully have crafted to contain exactly what I wanted my friends to know about me so that now it is safe for certain strangers to learn these things about me also? If I join the ridiculous save the whatever group on Facebook is it going to prompt an unwanted political conversation about fencing railroad land? I don't really want to save the whatevers, I really don't care.

I guess the bottom line is that at this point it would be irresponsible of us all to ignore the fact that our online / real life / professional / social / personal lives are all very real and we'd (okay, I'd) better spend some time editing before I die.

And with that, I'll leave you with this: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29681926/

Offense

I'm pretty sure that if I haven't offended all of you by now I will probably do so in the near future - it seems I'm on a roll. The roll thus far includes candle parties, kids day newspaper sales, failed downtown revitalization efforts and communists who don't watch 24 and are down on valley small towns. I'm sure there are more because of my typically unpopular opinions on a variety of subjects. In case you would like my opinion on your idea in order that I can run my big mouth about it and you can be on my official "offended" list, just ask.