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So What the Heck is Twitter?

I’ve been using Twitter now for 2.5 years. Honestly, I’m still grappling with the question: what the heck is Twitter?

Wikipedia, never short for answers has this:

Twitter is a social networking and microblogging service, owned and operated by Twitter Inc., that enables its users to send and read other user messages called tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the author’s profile page.

That’s not really what I’m looking for. You see, I certainly know what it is, in terms of that dry level of description. What I’m looking for is more of a contextual view of where it fits, and that is where we go down the rabbit hole…

I’ve always hung my hat on “it’s a tool in the web/community developer’s toolbox”. That’s true, but what kind of tool? Obviously there’s a gulf of difference between a sledgehammer and a micrometer, and in Social Media, there is probably even more of a divide between some of the tools.

In order to put it into a little more context, perhaps a history of the general trends I’ve seen in Twitter might be of use:

2.5 years ago, it seemed to be mostly people tweeting about social media, cup cakes and bacon.
2 years ago, the hash tag began to appear in greater prominence. It had been around since almost the beginning, allowing us to work our way around the obvious failing of the system in its lack of categorization.
1.5 years ago it was all about the fail whale. Twitter’s down, oh my God…the world is ending.
1 year ago, the anti-Social Media backlash started to play in. Too many wannabes, posting information that was wrong, self serving, or outright plagiarized.
.5 years ago – the rise of accounts on auto pilot. They randomly tweet quotes, but strangely never engage with anyone. And somehow they get right around 54k followers in couple months. Spam spam spam spam…

In that time, many of the folks I used Twitter to converse with have come and gone. The burn out rate must be staggering…I really would love to see some stats on that. From my point of view, the folks that stick with it tend to be the folks with a common interest, such as my friends from the Red Sox hash tag. Simply being on Twitter to be there doesn’t seem to be enough to really engage users long term.

Having watched over the years at the open rates on the links I can share, I can definitely say a couple things:

The open rates on links are way down.
That may be due to me posting more information that is arcane or of interest to a very limited audience.
I suspect it really as to do with a fundamental change – I think Twitter is becoming even more of an echo chamber and most users are more interested in the outwards flow of information. They’re here to lecture, not converse…

The whole idea of brands on Twitter has been a failure for me. I go to Twitter for conversation. I don’t want to talk to a #$%@ing brand, I want to talk to people. If I want to buy something I Google it and go get it. Period.

Content brands are a different story. I do like getting news alerts from sites via Twitter. For me, the pitch has to be right. CNN does a good job, so does Drudge, but I found I had to drop TechCrunch and several others who simply flooded the stream with stuff of little to know value for me. I can’t tell you what is right for you, but I can certainly tell you when you’ve crossed the line.

So, what the heck is Twitter?

A good back channel communication stream
A great way to open discussion on formerly closed communication streams like TV, sports and events
A lump of clay that maybe you might mold into something useful
A system in search of a reason raison d’être

That I’m still asking the question, this far in, is in part the answer. It is, at least in part, a failure, in that it hasn’t managed to truly define itself after several years of existence.

So I ask you all, what is Twitter to you? Fill the comments with wisdom…

16 Aug 10 | Personal, Social Media | Comments (2)

And now for something completely different…

Ministry of Silly Walks – Monty Python. Because its definitely that sort of day…

27 Jul 10 | Personal | Comments (0)

iPopcorn for the iPhone

26 Jul 10 | Personal | Comments (0)

A Day at the Beach

Misquamicut Beach was more crowded than I’ve ever seen it. The state beach closed early and word was out there wasn’t a grain of sand to be seen between the blankets.

the girls had a blast. MacKenzie playing in the surf while Madison dug the biggest hole I’ve ever seen. she could dig foxholes for the army.

05 Jul 10 | Personal | Comments (0)

Thoughts on Hitting the Half Century Mark

It’s official, I’m now 50 years old. So get off my lawn, ya darned hippies! Get a haircut!

The transition to “grumpy old man Cahill” is now pretty much complete. In addition to a new found desire to buy a straw fedora, drive 40 in the fast lane on the Pike, and hit the early bird special at Denny’s, I’ve also got some advice for all you young whippersnappers

Get better by being better – talking about it is one thing. Actually making the changes that are needed to improve is much harder. In the long run, the harder route is often the best.
Surround yourself with the best – you can’t do it all, so try to have the best team around you.
Find a mentor and be a mentor – I’ve been lucky to have had some great people like David Churbuck, Max Jordan, Marcel Badowski, Ed Andrews and others help me in the past. I try to return the favor every chance I get by helping the younger team members.
Humor helps – there’s so much in life that can tear you apart. Keep your humor and it’ll be that much more bearable.
Find problems and fix or eliminate them – life’s too short, don’t tolerate the crap. Make it better or make it go away.
Keep your friends and family close – in the end, the time you spend with them is the time you cherish. Call someone you haven’t talked to in a while today, or better yet, go and see them.
Crush your enemies coldly and without mercy lest they rise again – what did you expect, all puppies and unicorns? When you need to do something, get it done!

For anyone that’s interested, we’ll be celebrating the birthday Saturday night at the Point Breeze in Webster at 8pm. Come on down if you’re in the area!

25 May 10 | Personal | Comment (1)

Random Thoughts

A bit of randomness…since I’ve been working like crazy the past two weeks.

Once again we have a foiled terrorist attack and the media immediately blames the usual suspect, middle age white guys. Talk about racial profiling…
The striped bass have hit Boston Harbor. Personally, I want to head to the Cape and try the rivers for schoolies this weekend.
I’m laying off the Red Sox tweets for a while. Still watching the games, but I see we’ve still got exactly the problem we had last year: streaky hitting that makes for decent personal stats and an early Fall golf season for the players.
I’m shocked and dismayed that everyone is complaining about Arizona trying to enforce immigration law. Who would honestly suggest a full open border policy, especially with the drug crime alone our southern border? When our national government decides it will selectively enforce legally enacted laws, we’ve got a big problem. If immigration law is a problem, fix it, don’t ignore it. It sets an nasty precedent.
Sutton, MA, where I live has one of the highest property tax rates in the state. They want to build a new high school, and honestly, they need it. The old one is in horrid shape, I’ve been there recently. The funding battle ought to be interesting…
WordPress 3.0 will be out soon. This merges the WordPress MU fork and regular old WordPress. It ought to be interesting. I am looking forward to getting rid of one MU setup I have laying around in favor of the more familiar main branch of code.
I’m particularly feeling the lack of a boat this season. I REALLY want to get something…

04 May 10 | Personal | Comments (0)

Lack of posts…

I’ve been ultra-busy as of late. I’ll be posting over the weekend so look forward to some new and substantive content soon.

23 Apr 10 | Personal | Comments (0)

Show a Little Pride

I’ve been working with software engineers for a long time. The best are all united in one common attribute: pride.

Not pride in the sense of the deadly sin, no, I mean the good kind. The kind that makes them make that extra effort to ensure their product works right, or their website stays up, or their system isn’t going to need constant care and feeding.

Most of these folks (and I say folks as this certainly isn’t males only crowd…) would be utterly chagrined if I called them out here, so I won’t. What I will do is call on everyone else to try to be more like the best. Show the pride in your work!

Some things to do:

Don’t leave your problems for other people to sort out later.
If you see something broken, even if it isn’t yours, perhaps you ought to consider fixing it. Or starting the ball rolling towards a resolution…
Don’t stand for lousy architecture, esp. just because “we don’t have the time to fix it.” We all know you’ll spend more time in the long term maintaining junk.
Lead by example – show the other team members the way to success, esp. the junior members. At the very least it’s less time you’ll spend in the long term fixing problems they make, but more over, it’s your duty. Someone at sometime helped you…now it’s your turn. Make someone else better!

Further, the general suggestion works well throughout your life. You’ll find yourself much happier when you are proud and help the people around you. Trust me on this…

05 Apr 10 | Personal | Comments (0)