Audio Blog: Twitter, I Don't Like It

I have not used Twitter myself, but I

I have not used Twitter myself, but I have sometimes thought that sometimes similar within corporate firewalls might have its use. With today's distributed workforce we have lost a lot of ambient information, information we get from seeing and hearing our colleagues sitting in the landscape, information we get from talking by the coffee machine or over lunch. Twitter could be used to recreate some of this.

Whether it will make you ineffective or not is up to you, if you only glance over the tweets once or twice a day, I cannot see that they would constitute a problem.

--
Aleksander

Aleksander- Great points. Alas,

Aleksander-

Great points.

Alas, that's not how most folks use it. They check it several, perhaps 10-20 times a day. Less than mail, but nonetheless, more interruptions for potentially useless information.

Is it possible that a team could use it, with some ground rules, to allow updates? Sure, and I think it could work very well. But I don't know of anyone doing it. And even if they are, the vast majority of managers who are using it are not getting enough benefit to justify the affect it has on their attention.

Thanks for your comments!

Mark

I have use twitter a bit. I try

I have use twitter a bit. I try everything. Tech is so cool now and that's my field so I want to see how it fit. I couldn't figure it out. As I was doing it, I was thinking why am I doing this? I got tired of it quickly and discontinued it. I fail to see the utility.

That said, there are other things out there that are indeed useful. Google puts out great things. Jott was a cool idea...at least until they started charging...LOL

I have to agree. I like email as a way

I have to agree. I like email as a way of keeping an information trail, but Twitter is too fragmented and by its very nature you have to keep up with it almost constantly for it to be "useful."

Thanks guys....and I suspect some other

Thanks guys....and I suspect some other folks will soon disagree with us.

Let's see!

Mark

I have to disagree with Mark H some on

I have to disagree with Mark H some on this one. Twitter is a tool that can suck your attention just like email is a tool that can do the same thing. Don't hate the tool. Control the tool, don't let it control you.

I use Twitter for certain things. When I land safely from one of my many airplane flights, I Twitter it. My wife and kids (and parents who always worry) know that I'm safe without me having to call or text message half a dozen people or worry about interrupting a dance routine or guitar lesson with a phone call.

I've found Twitter useful for coordinating locations of multiple people at a large conference. Users simply twittered where they were headed to. If you were going to the same session you could meet up, if not, no big deal.

One of our execs twittered his quick thoughts after each session of a conference that was important to a number of us. We may not have read the thoughts until later but he got them down and out fast and we could contact him directly if wanted him to follow up on something before leaving.

I think twitter woks well for broadcasts where action is optional. A "We're meeting in the lobby at 7:45 for breakfast. Join us if you want to" type of message. It's a form of broadcast instant messaging.

But as with email and anything else, all the normal rules apply. Don't set twitter up in a way that distracts you. I only get a few feeds in via text message (wife and children consistently, other people only during an event like a conference). Read the rest in a feed reader as you would with blogs.

Mark Polino

Mark- Well said! Too bad too few

Mark-

Well said!

Too bad too few do it your way. On the whole, it's a scourge. Email is a GREAT tool...which has ruined hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people's effectiveness.

Mark

I agree with Mark - you have to protect

I agree with Mark - you have to protect your "attention budget". It's the principle behind things as disparate as GTD, MT's "time/priority management", Keith Code's "A Twist of the Wrist", and any activity where your coach made you "practice".

For GTD it's clearing your mind of extraneous junk so you can focus. For MT's "time" management, it's focusing on the right stuff. For "A Twist ..." and practicing any activity, it's practicing the mechanics so that they become automatic leaving you to focus on higher-level things (e.g., practice grip, alignment, and swing mechanics on the range so that you can think about shot shape and course management during the round).

All the extraneous junk, non-priority tasks, or mechanics are stealing from your fixed attention budget. You cannot expect to perform to your potential if you're only half paying attention to what you're doing.

For a freelancer such as myself, I

For a freelancer such as myself, I consider Twitter to be almost a requirement. It is yet another way of establishing your visibility in the community, much like blogging, podcasting and video sharing.

Even more, Twitter has the ability to bring new work directly to your door. I have several personal experiences with Twitter leading directly to billable hours. While I was unclear on how Twitter might fit into my work flow when I started using it, it has become an integral part of my day now.

Can a tool overwhelm you if you let it? Surely, but as another commenter stated above, "Control the tool, don't let it control you." If someone systematically denies the useful of Twitter, with out ever using it, they could be discarding a great tool that could expand their career.

Douglas

[...] Mark Horstman over at Manager

[...] Mark Horstman over at Manager Tools posted this audio blog post today decrying the use of Twitter (Twitter, I don’t like it). While I typically agree with Mark on most things, I had to take exception with him on this one. Here is the comment I left on his blog post. What do you think about Twitter and its place in your work flow? For a freelancer such as myself, I consider Twitter to be almost a requirement. It is yet another way of establishing your visibility in the community, much like blogging, podcasting and video sharing. [...]

Doug- Ah, we disagree. Isn't

Doug-

Ah, we disagree. Isn't diversity grand?

For 90% of the managers I know, and 99% of the executives I know, Twitter is a scourge. Perhaps not for you, and that's cool with me.

Thanks for your comments!

Mark

I agree with mpolino. If used properly

I agree with mpolino. If used properly Twitter is amazing. For us, people sign up to specific Twitter feeds at an organizational level rather than following individuals. We use it in my organization to keep both staff and customers up to date. By comparison our posts to it happen only occasionally as reminders to reinforce previously sent emails or phone calls. We have a conference once a year where we use it to keep the attendees informed of schedule changes and upcoming happenings.

PDavis- Ahhh, well said. Help me

PDavis-

Ahhh, well said. Help me with something though - can you give me an example of a reminder reinforcing a previous email? Why would I have to spend the time to do that?

Thanks sir.

Mark

Doug- Another thought...you're a

Doug-

Another thought...you're a freelancer, and as I read your post, it sounds like Twitter is marketing for you.

How would it work for a manager? I can't see myself marketing myself in that way as a manager....

Mark

In the macro, I agree with Mark. In the

In the macro, I agree with Mark. In the micro, there are opportunities to exploit microblogging that one should not be closed to due to majority use. Like Doug I am self-employed. I "tweet" at most once a day, and usually (though not exclusively) they are professionally-related, such as a new technology that directly impacts what I'm doing. The people I follow do similar. I have zero interest in who is walking their dog or baking a cake; but I am interested in Joe's experiencing (albeit briefly stated) installing the latest server on new hardware, and so forth. That said, there are some days I don't look at my twitter log. At most I check it maybe, twice? No toast there.

Who said that we brand ourselves or that we are our own brand? It is a marketing tool, and a social conduit for us outside of a large workforce.

Twitter is what you make it, like anything else. That said, having been in corporate environments, I can empathize with Mark's curt tone. And, Mark is right -- it is an open invite to "post your drunk photos" so, like a monkey with a gun, it can be dangerous.

[...] I’ve got to say that Mark

[...] I’ve got to say that Mark Horstman at Manager Tools makes a point that I’ve learned surprisingly quickly. I am a member of twitter, identi.ca, and army.twit.tv. I have to say, though, that I generally use it as email. I do send updates of what I’m doing and done as I feel the need. (These updates sometimes also go to FaceBook and LinkedIn.) However, I don’t watch twitter all day long. I start Twhirl at the end of the day or when I need a break at work to see if anyone messaged anything cool during the day or if anyone responded to one of my messages. [...]

How would it work for a manager? I

How would it work for a manager? I can’t see myself marketing myself in that way as a manager….

Was it on MT I heard that blogs are the new resume? If you microblog professional tasks, in a professionally brief manner, without revealing customer's IP, that's one example.

For me the usefulness of twitter comes

For me the usefulness of twitter comes from it's ability to provide quick access to 'the wisdom of the crowd'. A quick tweet about a tech problem, or even some onions on a strategy direction, can yield hundreds of responses large group of followers, or smaller focused responses from group of close associates. (the Caveat is that you need to invest time in the community to develop the relationships in order to earn these responses).

I think that the Australian twitter community (me) uses it this way much more than the US, where it is more about 'what are you doing now'. The Australian usage is more of a conversation, back and forth, than a personal broadcast.

And if your business has any form of customer contact (and who doesn't) and you are not monitoring the feedback about your company on twitter...?

On re-reading, I din't mean that 'I' an

On re-reading, I din't mean that 'I' an the whole Australian twitter community - but that I am an Australian in the Australian twitter community.

BTW a recent addition to the Australian

BTW a recent addition to the Australian twitter community is the leader of the National Opposition party @TurnbullMalcom who is a active participant and regularly responds, in person, to questions. This is unprecedented access to this level of politics for the general community.

As a user of Twitter, I agree with

As a user of Twitter, I agree with Mark. It's fun outside of office, when it's less apparent how much time you are wasting (and I mean that in a good way). :-)

Kyle- HA! Rest assured, you did NOT

Kyle-

HA! Rest assured, you did NOT hear on Manager Tools that blogs were the new resume. They are NOT. They're available to recruiters, they're looked at, and you're evaluated on them..but you sure as heck better not start one (and do it poorly) just to have one as a resume. Because even if you do, they (probably) won't like it, and you'll still have to have...

a resume.

Mark

Imagine that - an expert making him or

Imagine that - an expert making him or herself available through a public medium. Sweet! I wish I knew somewhere I could get that for management....

;-)

Mark

Jim- I think your point is well

Jim-

I think your point is well taken. I still assert, though, that, as Kyle said, in the macro, not good, in the micro, in some situations okay. But relative to one's true value if one is a manager...it's gotta be way down on the priority list, yet it's always on nature makes it a violator...troublesome to the mind of an effective manager.

Cheers all,

Mark

Agreed Mark - MT and the MT Forums are

Agreed Mark - MT and the MT Forums are the same thing. Twitter is just another branch - It casts a wider net for me and means I catch more flotsam but I also get the occasional gem (I couldn't think of a fishing metaphor there).

Works for me

Works for me sir.

Mark

To those that use it, why is it better

To those that use it, why is it better than a broadcast text message to the people that you want to reach? I see it's possible utility but aren't there other ways to do the same thing that are already part of corporate culture?

How you use twitter will determine the

How you use twitter will determine the value/distraction that you derive from it.

Here are some examples why I love twitter:

RetailEmailBlog: 53% of the retailers I track have made at least one reference to the holiday season in their emails already. 7:45 AM Oct 27th

Zappos: We worked w/ authors of "Tribal Leadership" (awesome book!) to make audio book available for FREE! - http://www.zappos.com/triba... 6:57 PM Oct 21st
(BTW, that is from Tony Hseih who is a Twitter Fanatic).

JSchweets72: Another cool widget not yet released - still in beta - www.bumptop.com - check out the video from TED. 4:35 PM Oct 27th

If you twit with friends, it is like texting with friends all day - bad use of time. If you twit to have relevant content pushed to you, I would argue that you are working smart (set aside 5 minutes to twit at the end of your email session).

@ AManagerTool Blasting an SMS to

@ AManagerTool

Blasting an SMS to all your peers is invasive. Twitter allows the user to chose how he/she will receive info - they can view it only on the web (think iPhone), they can get it on their phone, or they may not chose to follow you. I don't follow frineds.

Experiment for 30 days and see if you like it or hate it.

Check out http://twitter.zappos.com/start - Best reference for how to set up twitter.

The points about use are good ones -

The points about use are good ones - well shared.

I still think - though I respect the disagreements - that Twitter is likely used by far too many in ways (relative to time and value) that resemble email. Email is an incredibly powerful tool...that has ruined productivity (while misleading them into believing the opposite) because of inefficient (and for managers therefore ineffective) usage behaviors.

If you use it, fine...use it right. I bet less than 5% of email users use it efficiently...and I worry that will happen to twitter too. It would be a shame.

Mark

Mark, we almost all agree that emails

Mark,
we almost all agree that emails might, most of the times, be used in a EVEN MORE effective way. And Twitter is even more 'scary' when we talk about effectiveness ...

And I think social networking tools are going to change the way we live our life (business AND personal) as email did few (FEW!) years ago, and as mobile phone did JUST FEW years ago.

We just have to wait for some 'overshooting' in the usage, some adjustements ... and choose how much and when to be involved.

My 2 eurocents,
PierG
http://pierg.wordpress.com

PierG- Well, yes, but when I was

PierG-

Well, yes, but when I was growing up, all us Southern California boys thought skateboards would be way cooler and more important than bikes...

didn't really turn out that way, though....

;-)

Mark

Then there's this "news"

Then there's this "news" article:

"48-Hour Internet Outage Plunges Nation Into Productivity"

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/29601

Yeah! "Thinking

Yeah! "Thinking Occurs"

Mark

Related to the Onion's piece is a real

Related to the Onion's piece is a real life example from Merlin Mann at 43 Folders.

http://www.43folders.com/2008/08/12/working-in-contexts

I like the way Mark Polino expressed

I like the way Mark Polino expressed some of the controlled use of Twitter. I enjoy using Twitter in my personal life, but haven't found a good application for it at work. I find Twitter to definitely be a distraction, but sometimes waiting in line, at the doctor's office, or in the airport, I enjoy the entertainment of it all.

I do suffer from rambling. I have been known to send a two or three page e-mail in the past. I have found the 140 character limit of Twitter has helped me edit my communication to be more concise. Like poetry, your Tweet has to build an entire image or story in just a few words.

I certainly enjoy the challenge, but can't say this is the best way for managers to become succinct.

I agree with Mark that there is no

I agree with Mark that there is no management use for Twitter.

I do use Twitter in my personal social life. It is a great tool to stay connected to your social circle and community. I don't just randomly follow people who happen to tweet interesting stuff. But an ever increasing number of my friends are using it. It can help in building relationships by allowing you to ask about something you may have seen tweeted.

I have also found it useful to keep other up to date on things happening to you. A perfect example was when I sent a tweet about my recent job loss. Between Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook I was able to easily let a very broad group of people know about my status. I got quite a number of offers for help from more casual acquaintances that may have not otherwise known I was looking for a job.

That said it should be handled just like other social networking tools like Mark outlines in the Myspace cast. Be careful what you post. Don't start talking about your late night bar crawl on Sunday and the hangover you will have at work on Monday;)

MadAmos

Mark, Have you stopped to think

Mark,

Have you stopped to think about how much more traffic this post might be getting because of Twitter? I for one would never have seen your rant if not for the owner of a well-recognized Phoenix-based web marketing company linking to it. The short format increases the likelihood of multiplying reach because of it's bite-size format.

Some of the conversation can be (and is) negative, but monitoring keywords with applications like http://search.twitter.com allow you to use the tool for customer service. Thank people who are praising you, reach out to those who are degrading you, and solicit feedback for improvement from all.

Jet Blue, Brightkite, Home Depot and many more are using Twitter in this fashion.

Heather Lynne Herr

Ms. Herr- First off, just because we

Ms. Herr-

First off, just because we disagree with a new technology doesn't mean it's a rant. Second, we don't dispute that Twitter is popular, or even useful.

While more communication is always better, that doesn't necessarily mean that more media makes for more communication.

Mark

try Yammer.com - it's twitter for

try Yammer.com - it's twitter for companies - tends to stay more focused on work, plus I've heard from some managers who have remote employees/teams that it's very handy to be able to send group messages to their whole team from a blackberry especially when that manager is not near a laptop (there is both a site and a mobile version).

I think you are right. There's no

I think you are right.

There's no practical reason to follow twitters. It's only input input input and no output, and we all know the results depend on what we put out in the world. The distractions just get in the way.

Frankly, I don't know many

Frankly, I don't know many people who like Twiter and the truth is that I don't like it neither. There are many other options you can pick from then Twiter.

___________

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