Tweeting AND Facebooking? Come on.
Several of my friends apparently use, in addition to blogging, Twitter AND Facebook to tell their friends about… I don’t know… whatever people can tell their friends in a tiny window.
WHY?
I can imagine READING many sources both because some of your friends might like one format and other friends like the other but… Gah!
Advice to my friends: You’re missing out! If you’re going to sign up for 2, you might as well sign up for all of the social networking sites, just to make sure.
Lee,
In effect, what you’re doing by continually complaining about twitter, aside from aggravating your friends, is that you’re attempting to limit the way people express themselves into only ways that you are comfortable with. I’m not sure why you would feel that limiting someone’s self expression is acceptable, but, it’s not, and that’s what you’re ending up doing.
In my particular case, and I would suppose in the case of many others, blogging in general, twitter included, is not about you listening. It’s about me talking, about me saying what I want or need to say. When my livejournal account was first created, it was not public at all, and the point was not about anyone listening, but just about me writing down my thoughts. The fact that I let anyone read it at all is not the primary focus, and it was actually quite some time before I even told anyone I had a blog. The same all holds true for twitter, in some ways. It’s not about you (any of you that follow my tweets), it’s about me. It is *only* about me, but you can read what I write.
If you don’t get twitter, and you don’t get Facebook, the solution is simple. Don’t use them. But why irritate those of us that do? And why the suggestions to just make short blog entries instead of tweeting? Obviously that’s not the same thing, and people don’t want to do it, or they just naturally would. Using a blog only is a means of communication that *you* want people to communicate in, but they just aren’t going to, no matter how much you may want it. Trying to force them to is just being restrictive and comes off as you trying to limit how they express themselves.
I thought about letting this just pass, again, but the more I think about it, the more it seems to me that your attempts to restrict what people say and whether they use twitter, facebook, blogging, or some other set of tools is invasive and controlling.
Please knock it off.
As a friend (although an irritated one),
— Rick
Communication mediums are designed, generally, for the purpose of communication. I have little tolerance for mediums that do not work toward that end. What is “communication”? Mirriam Webster (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/communication) gives a few:
1: an act or instance of transmitting
2 a: information communicated b: a verbal or written message
3 a: a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior
In this instance, I am interested in the third definition. You say that you are most interested in first definition but I have my doubts. Let’s assume that you too are talking about the third definition.
How do each of these new communication methods contribute toward communication?
Twitter:
* 140 character limit means that transmitter must keep his thoughts short. Receiver gains comfort in knowing each message will be short.
* Fairly immediate with options to forward to email and cell phone.
* Intentionally rudimentary mechanism for following/maintaining conversations. Conversations are driven toward a single thought per message with little history. Listening in on conversations between friends is difficult to follow.
* Transmitters are encouraged to write about whatever is on their minds ad-hoc, keeping a lot of noise in the mix.
* entirely proprietary
The odd combination of the immediacy of the medium, the high noise and the difficulty of following possibly useful signals makes Twitter a difficult way to actually communicate.
Facebook:
I’ve used this less because… well, Facebook’s features appear to be:
* web based email – thanks I already have email
* Piles of “fun” social challenges that are at the right level for the 12-16 year old set. (see the Facebook Sushi image) – thanks but I don’t need this clouding my communication stream
* blogging – thanks I already have that
* a seemingly headless interface – I never know what I’m supposed to do except to click on the ads along the right side
* “Apps” that consist mostly of high school Truth or Dare questions
* no control over my public or private information
* poor email forwarding interface
* entirely proprietary
I like blogs because:
* RSS feeds allow readers to follow along quietly
* I can write a little or a lot. Though granted Twitter and SMS text messaging have better user experiences when the message needs to be short and immediate
* My blog allows contributors and myself to be notified of followup comments on a topic, allowing discussion.
* The data is centrally located and searchable. I own all the data on my blog.
* The interface allows for easy browsing: If the reader finds interest in the subject line, they can read further to the meat of the article.
I like web forums and email mailing lists as well.
Rick, you write
>is not about you listening. It’s about me talking
If that’s the case, if it really is about that first definition in Mirriam Websters dictionary, then go ahead and keep writing. I just won’t read it. You write that you’re ok with that. If that’s true, then have a blast.
That also means when you send an invitation to an event on Facebook or evite (remember evite, don’t you hate clicking through those invitations?) or Twitter and I don’t show up, you’ll know why. Because I don’t have the time to follow you writing in all those mediums.
Here is the short form:
Want me to read what you write? Keep a consistant, useful interface.
yes. We’re in agreement. Whether you (or anyone) reads what I write is not the point. It’s ok if you don’t read it (or my blog). It’s not about me trying to communicate with you (or anyone), at all. Not in the least.
You might consider adopting /dev/null as your social networking medium.
PS. (this is more on the subject in general than to Rick in particular) Here are some examples of troubles I’ve had in the past with enabling electronic conversation.
Livejournal:
I decided not to use Livejournal because there is no way to search through my own posts and comments for particular items, nor anyone elses posts or comments.
A friend of mine set up a Livejournal Syndication of my wordpress blog so she could read my blog inside her Livejournal “Friends” page. Now anyone can read this syndicated page. One major problem is that if someone leaves a comment on this syndication page, I will never see it because I don’t check for comments (bi-weekly) there. And the post as well as comments are deleted by Livejournal 2 weeks after they are posted. That sucks.
Furthermore, my friend lost the password to the syndication account and is unable to change any of the settings on it. Feh.
Twitter:
10 minutes ago I tried to find a conversation I had with a friend last week. It was nigh impossible to find. In another month that conversation will be lost to the ages. :-(
I also just noticed that Twitter doesn’t tell you or confirm when you’ve been unsubscribed from someones “following” list. That is a terrible practice since there is generally no good way to tell the difference between a quiet friend and one that isn’t on your following list any more.
But I suppose that is just one of many details I find annoying.