August 4th, 2008
People ask me why Twitter has any business value
Early adopters like myself seem to always be defending new technologies. First it was email, then instant messaging, blogs, wikis, virtual worlds, social networking, etc. Now it is Twitter, or more generically micro-blogging.
Micro-blogging is a way to quickly express yourself in 140 characters or less. You can ask a question, get something off your mind, say where you are, link to a web site you want to share, and so on.
So why would anyone do this?
For me, there are two reasons.
1. As an employee who works at home away from my colleagues, living in a city away from most of my friends and family, it allows me to "connect" with people. I see where they are, what they are working on, what they are reading, what they are doing on vacation, movies they have seen, and so much more. It gives me a sense of closeness that blogs do not provide. Most blogs are discussions about a specific topic, not tidbits into peoples' lives. Does it replace seeing people in person or talking to them on the phone? Of course not, but it does fill in a lot of the blanks. Laugh if you want, but this means a lot to me. I'm thinking of teaching my mom to follow my twitter stream so she can know more about what is going on with me between phone calls.
2. I have learned a TON from the things people share on Twitter. It is not really all that important to me to see that someone had a tuna sandwich for lunch, but I do like reading messages such as "signing up for so-and-so conference", or "just finished reading a web page about the newest _______", or "finally found a solution to that problem where _______". When people share real content, others can benefit. When people ask questions, the wisdom of all people on Twitter can answer them. For example, as I've been having challenges switching from Windows to Mac, I've had dozens of excellent tips and interactions about it on Twitter. I'm not sure why, but I like this a lot more than signing on a trolling through some customer support forum.
A week or so ago I posted about how Firefox is providing customer service via Twitter. Well, again this morning I ran into a similar situation. I posted a comment about VMWare (it was not even a question) and someone on Twitter (whom I don't even know) saw my post and took the time to tell me about VMWare's Twitter presence. (thanks!!!) I think that is pretty cool, and has real business value.
Fad? Sure. Value? Yes.
