Okay, it must be synchronicity that makes me blog this little topic but I had three people this week express similar reservations (or questions) to one another about what Twitter seemed appropriate, or inappropriate for. I guess that’s as good of a reason to bring it up here as any?

One person thought it odd to use Twitter at all, considering instant messaging was similar. Another comment suggested that the privacy of broadcasting to so many people was problematic. The most recent mention was about the understandably odd idea of using Twitter to organize groups of people (such as business travelers arriving for a conference) for things such as dinners, cab sharing, etc.

These are things I understand completely and can’t argue with because I had similar doubts or reservations before I began using Twitter.

Surprisingly, these are exactly the sort of things that catapulted Twitter to the level it’s currently at.

During the SxSW (South by Southwest) conferences Twitter users frequently (obsessively, actually) tweeted (publicly broadcasted) interesting or, in their opinion, uninteresting talks, seminars, and presentations and even the conference promoters cited huge, dynamic flows of attendees between events. I won’t go into the small but Tweetery group that caused a Twitter ruckus during one of the events.

Then, the craziness really began: the after-parties. It was awash with Tweets like “After party Bigelows @ 10th and Main with @soandso @soandso” – and people knew where to go and who was there all without a single phone call. Needless to say some of these things would require multiple phone calls (and perhaps long distance charges).

So, as bizarre as it might be, Twitter (especially in the SF Bay Area) has taken on a life of its own for these sorts of things.

I think some people also like to be a little geeky-voyeuristic and maybe participate vicariously through tweets.

It’s cool. Some people use Twitter as a mini-IM (not my favorite but I’m guilty of it too when my HD crashed and I lost my IM’s). Some use it as a random train-of-thought way of expressing short ideas. Others use it as a nonstop marketing machine (something I despise). However, I think that’s the first appeal of Twitter – the “use it as you like” element.

There’s also an element of instantaneous communication – but without the need to reply or have pre-existing relationships with the people involved. An instant messenger usually requires a person to send and have approved either an invite request or permission. This isn’t always reciprocated, either. Twitter allows anyone to follow the musings of another without permission – by default.

I follow people I have no prior relationship with and, realistically, probably never would have had it not been for Twitter. I could read their comments, respond back, and if they chose to ignore me… it was never a rejection. However, if they chose to respond… that opened a door in a controlled and measured way that private email or instant messaging makes difficult.

I wouldn’t ever broadcast something on Twitter I wouldn’t be willing to say in an office full of coworkers, of course. However, it’s not unusual to read things that are obviously intended for others (and therefor a little cryptic) but innocuous.

My general instinct is that Twitter will find its way but it works many ways for many people and it’s they who will determine its core usefulness – providing the company can either muster the tweeticles to deal with their internal issues (including scalability) or hire/sell off to a firm that can. This is a post for another day, though.

Thanks to Action Datsun for the wallpaper image.

When I had my PC bonkeroo last week it was a series of problems – one on top of the other. So, my intentions of going from PC to Mac (at least for my regular “daily” life) were simply hastened.

The difference between my original plan of phasing out of one system to the other over a month is that, in choosing to put the PC restoration into low priority, I’ve had to adapt quickly to a new OS, get things set up from scratch, and begin using systems I haven’t used before… all in the interest of getting up-to-speed quickly. I have no time to enter the pool from the shallow end – I need to canon ball off into the deep end because I’ve got work to do.

Naturally, I’ve rushed to find Mac-equivalent mechanisms to help me get back to my productivity – tools that help me communicated, interact, transfer data, and otherwise interface with all the people and services I used to – pre-crash. It was during this mad dash that I noticed something odd…

I immediately, upon getting the new system set up, started up the email. I chose to go with a web-hosted email retrieval as opposed to my POP downloaded system I was using before because, now that I’m portable, I didn’t want the hassle of being without email while out and about. I also didn’t want to juggle multiple email mechanisms, either.

I grabbed a Twitter client for the Mac (Twhirl – thanks Jean!) so I could get back in contact with my peeps from there. I got hooked back up with my forums, groups, and so on.

It was at this point I noticed the odd thing. I realized that I was spending a goofy amount of time either retrieving, restoring, replacing, or otherwise interacting with all these things that are supposed to save me time… but it was taking longer and longer to deal with them than any one point of communication would require otherwise. In other words… having five different ways to stay in touch with people for “convenience’s sake” takes a heck of a lot of time out of my day as opposed to say, just exchanging email.

It dawned on me that I spend an inordinate amount of time checking or monitoring my communications channels – much longer than it takes to actually conduct the communications I would have in them. It’d be like spending half an hour waiting for the phone to ring only to have a three minute conversation, you know?

It’s not entirely technology or having multiple channels open that’s the problem, I agree – it’s largely me and how I have been operating. I suspect it comes from a change I adapted to years ago when I began working for myself from home: Not having a built-in network of peers or an office filled with coworkers. I had to learn the hard way that building and maintaining one’s own network in self-employment isn’t always easy. So, I think that’s why I’ve become a “communication hound” much to the annoyance of some of my peers (sorry Twitter friends… I’ll learn to use IM more).

Well, today is a different day. I’ve still got work to do and it’ll surely be via my computer and online – there’s no escaping that. However, I’m purposely going to lay off the email, instant messaging, cell phone, pager, text message, video chat, twitter, and mental telepathy quite a bit more. I’ll still be in total communication but instead of watching the horizon for smoke to signal an incoming message I’m going to just stay busy with my work. I’m choosing to discover what it’s like if I only check email every few hours instead of every twenty minutes. I know, I shudder just thinking about it, but it’s gotta’ be done, Hoss. I’ve become part of the machine and it’s beginning to run me instead of me running it.

How about you? Have you felt there are days where all these wonderful tools, gadgets, services, and methods that were supposed to save time and effort have become more time-consuming than the tasks you were trying to accomplish in the first place?

In particular, I’d like to invite you to not only join Twitter (if you’re not already on it) but to follow me (and likely my following you in return).

Twitter is incredibly valuable – particularly to those of us who must network online for the majority of our connections.

Personally, I use Twitter a lot for casual questions, tapping peers on the shoulder, or just keeping up on things that aren’t worth an email but I want to explore with others.

So, if you haven’t already joined me – I invite you to do so! We might have a lot to learn from one-another and adding more, great communication tools is a good thing.

~ Follow Blipfish on Twitter!