Friday 2 March 2007 - Filed under General
I’ve been hearing about Twitter for a while now and finally signed up about 3 or 4 weeks ago. As anyone will tell you who has gotten into it, it is addicting. I’ve tried to sell it to a few people who just didn’t get it. I think there is no explaining it to someone who doesn’t see it right off.
I’ve often heard it described as a stalking tool – you can stalk people on your list and see what they are doing etc. But I don’t see it like that at all. All you see is what they say they are doing, if they decide to say what they are doing (and tell the truth).
It’s also described as being a cross between an IM chat and a blog. mmmm…kind of, I guess. But not quite right either. Yeah, you can kind of chat with people on it, if you don’t mind everyone else listening in. And 140 characters per post kind of limits its use as a blog. Not to mention that there is no permanent record of what you said.
The thing about IM is that when someone IMs you, you are kind of obligated to answer them. Either that or consciously ignore them. With twitter, you have all your friends doing this and that, and you can notice it or not, and respond or not.
The way I see Twitter is kind of like setting up a virtual shared office space where you and all your friends are going to work, hang out, etc. It’s kind of like background noise. You notice these trivial things people are doing just like you notice Jim from accounting brought back Indian food for lunch.
I see that Mike Chambers is off to have lunch with Lynda Weinman, Peter Elst got his email fixed, Danny Dura is going to the Game Developers Conference nest week, Eric Dolecki is listening to Iron Maiden while Ryan Stewart is pining for country music (ok, so my Twitter connections have questionable musical tastes 
).
I don’t really need to know any of this, don’t particularly care about most of it, and don’t need to respond to it. But somehow it’s kind of cool just being aware of it. Again, if you don’t get it, don’t bother. But try it for a day or two. You’ll either be hooked, or you’ll still be scratching your head.
2007-03-02 » keith
2 March 2007 @ 7:05 pm
I haven’t really been able to get into it–but as first I thought it was a stalking/voyeur thing. Now I see it’s totally a cross between IM and blogging. It’s like how IM is a cross between email and the phone.
2 March 2007 @ 9:54 pm
Thanks Keith. This is the best explanation/justification of Twitter that I’ve seen. It’s an interesting social phenomenon. I’ll be curious to see whether it ends up being just a fad, or whether it ends up evolving into another communication medium. I don’t really think this is going to be my thing — the last thing I need is one more distraction from getting work done.
Most of the time I find IM pretty irritating, and I leave it turned off 95% of the time, unless I’m actively working with someone on it. My philosophy is, if it’s urgent, call me. Otherwise, send me an email and let me respond when I have a moment.
3 March 2007 @ 2:31 am
LMAO! Well said Keith. I love the virtual office analogy. And I agree, there is just kind of something cool about seeing what people are up to. And the fact that I don’t have to respond or chime in keeps it low maintenance and fun.
3 March 2007 @ 10:32 am
Ok, as you’ve seen you’ve convinced me to try it out.
I don’t think I’ll be a constant updater, but it sounds more interesting now. http://twitter.com/bdeitte
3 March 2007 @ 10:49 am
[...] There are a wide variety of tools that might be used for workstreaming, and which ones suit you and your team depend both on what kind of work you do and what tools your coworkers are using. It’s not effective to use an IRC channel if you’re the only one on the team who knows what IRC stands for, but it can be great for a techie crowd. Twitter creates a virtual shared office space that can reproduce the chatter and intimacy of a physical office while allowing team members to share what they’re working on and what they’ve completed. RSS feeds from blogs, message boards, photo sites, and project management apps could all provide useful workstreams–especially if these are aggregated for a whole team. Source code control systems like Subversion can output RSS feeds too so you can make team members aware of new features and bug fixes as they’re checked in. [...]
3 March 2007 @ 12:15 pm
This is addicting. If you have an internet connection and you can’t see outside your office the first thing you do when you are home is log in twitter and drop a line.
3 March 2007 @ 12:53 pm
Workspace chatter is the perfect analogy. Okay, it isn’t the perfect analogy because only a thing itself can be a perfect analogy but close enough.
3 March 2007 @ 6:26 pm
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4 March 2007 @ 12:30 pm
[...] Twitter doesn’t — or more aptly, shouldn’t — fit into this mix. Keith Peters recently described Twitter as a kind of channel for the background noise of a “virtual office space.” ”[Twitter] is kind of like background noise. You notice these trivial things people are doing just like you notice Jim from accounting brought back Indian food for lunch … You don’t really need to know any of this, don’t particularly care about most of it, and don’t need to respond to it. But somehow it’s kind of cool just being aware of it.” Keith’s description is spot on. It is a passive information channel. But, the problem with Twitter is that it’s a passive information channel making extensive use of active notification systems. Instant messaging and SMS are not the best way to keep up with Twitter’s so-called “tweets.” Do I really want a text message every time Jim from accounting has a curry for lunch? Absolutely not. [...]
6 March 2007 @ 7:13 am
Well, 4 days later, I see Phillip is totally addicted, and Brian is becoming a regular.
9 March 2007 @ 6:19 pm
I was just reading another person’s blog (Sean Voisen, who I wish I would have met at 360Flex) and headed back to this article. I am becoming a bit of a Twitter regular now, and it’s much more fun than I expected.
17 March 2007 @ 9:07 am
[...] Hmmm… I’ve just come across twitter.com. It’s one more tool/environement that you apparently need to try before you can figure it out. As far as I can tell, it’s kind of like micro-blogging (without a permanent record) — or broadcast IM. On the other hand, Keith Peters, in the Bit-101 blog describes it as office background noise. You notice these trivial things people are doing just like you notice Jim from accounting brought back Indian food for lunch. [...]
21 March 2008 @ 12:28 am
[...] For the original post, click here [...]
5 April 2008 @ 10:12 am
Nice view. I would like to state a feature of twitter that I love too and that I’ve just discovered. It’s the option to receive a twitt even if the guy who post it isn’t in your contact list (he has to make the post as a reply though). It’s under settings/Notices/@Replies and I see it as a really hot feature. You don’t have to follow someone but you will receive something concerning you (if you have enabled that setting). I wish all twitters had it enabled.
BTW I love your pic on twitter.