twitterpated

So I said I would follow up with my impressions of Twitter, after using it for a while.  The timing of my entering the world of Twitter ended up being no less than perfect.  I mentioned in my last post about it that I seemed to be inundated with hints from the general universe that I needed to try Twitter, all within about a 24-hour period.  I had been holding off, because I didn’t want another hassle of something else to maintain online.  But as it kept coming up, it seemed like it was becoming something I needed to at least have an opinion about, for discussion’s sake.  So I took the plunge.

Since then, even more buzz has occurred about this phenomenon:

• Matt Morton blogged about me blogging about Twitter, and included his own perspectives.  He is really correct about the “talking points” aspect.
• Tripp pointed out that tech guru Robert Scoble officially slammed the gate on all early adopters of Twitter…right after I joined.  Phew, that was a close one.  I would really be forced into the depths of shame to be called a late adopter of any new technology.  Seriously though…what a weird coincidence.
• Tripp published his own ideas about why he uses Twitter.

So…my impressions of Twitter, after a couple of weeks of using it.

• It presents some fantastic talking points.  I have to agree with Matt on this.  If you follow someone on Twitter, instead of saying “So, how’s school?” the next time you see them (and having them answer back “Ehh…it’s school”), you will actually have a specific thing to ask them a question about.  “So, I saw that yesterday you tried that new restaurant.  How was it?”  You’re way more interested in your friends’ lives when you know exactly what’s interesting in those lives.
• It helps you get back in touch with people.  For example, as much as I really liked several of my former coworkers at my last job, I just don’t see them anymore.  Now that I’ve joined Twitter and a couple of them are on there, I feel like I’m right back in touch with them.  Twitter is our new “water cooler talk.”
• It reveals interesting details about your friends, previously unbeknownst to you.  I was surprised to see how many of my friends, for example, didn’t realize that I work out in the mornings before work most days of the week.  It’s a huge part of my day, and it’s basically the reason why I’m not out at 11pm like the rest of you.  Also, I’ve realized that all Matt Morton and Chris Stewart do in their free time is play video games, watch sports, and flirt with each other via Twitter.  See, I had no idea about that before (j/k dudes, j/k).
• It helps during a crisis. Last Tuesday was the first day of Dan and I having to be apart for a week, so of course I told him to call him that evening.  Well, my cell phone was “searching for service” for a couple of hours.  I knew that I wouldn’t be able to get in touch with Dan, and I didn’t want him to think I was ignoring him, or had been kidnapped or something.  I was freaking out because I couldn’t figure out whether my phone was broken, or if there was an outage.  There was absolutely nothing about it on the news or the web.  After posting a tweet about it, though, a couple of people responded saying their service was also out.  So I knew it was something the phone company was probably working on.
• It’s the first source of news. Faster than a speeding bullet, people.  Users post things of national importance, or very personal importance…either way, Twitter users are the first to know.  I found out that Charlton Heston died via Twitter, and I also found out that a friend was pregnant via Twitter. People also post about terrible traffic that they’re stuck in, so that you don’t get stuck in it too.  Good to know!  And I assume that if I was like “OMG, crocodile in my kitchen,” everybody would drop their laptops and come and save me.
• It really doesn’t require much effort.  You’re in charge, so you decide how much effort to put into it.  Obviously, if you update a lot, you help keep things more entertaining for your friends.  But if you don’t feel like it or don’t have anything to say, you don’t have to.  It’s that simple.

Now the, whole assumption that those points are made under is that you’re only following people who are your friends IRL, or at least an interesting friend-of-a-friend IRL, or maybe important figures in the world of technology or politics or whatever it is that you care about.  The tweets they post are interesting because you already know them, and / or care what they have to say.  I’ve seen a lot of people asking about Twitter, saying “but why should I care what a bunch of strangers are doing?”  That’s just it — you’re not following strangers.  You’re following your friends.  So of course you care.

So that’s my verdict — so far, it’s a lot of fun, and definitely worth the tiny bit of effort you put in to use it.