Twitter. Over-rated?

[SeanMacGabhann]

I would argue that Twitter is more useful in my day to day life than Facebook by some distance

Look, it even made Ted Max get all serious and play a straight bat so it can't be JUST fluffy pap, right?

[bigbadwolf]

dulwichmum Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Two days ago my favourite leather handbag was

> savaged by my darling cockapoo and I sulked and

> had a tantrum about it on Twitter. Mulberry have

> contacted me via Twitter and offered to repair it

> for me.

Are you serious?

That would be some pretty competative customer service.

[RosieH]

What Sean said

[mockney piers]

Innovations (loosely of this ilk) that have made a difference in my working life? Instant messaging and RSS.

Great for keeping lines of communication open and instantly being able to catch up with latest changes, bug fixes etc.

Twitter is really just glorified single purpose RSS reader (in effect if not technologically) which of course is entirely application (with a small a) neutral. It can be useful, peurile, interesting or dull. It can be anything.

I've enough trouble just meeting up with my mates and cntinuing my pointless musings on here. Facebook is only useful in an easy way to recoup lost emails/phone numbers. Twitter I just can't be arsedto invest effort in, that's not to belittle t or those who use it (apart from all the vaccuaous solipsists out there of course) it just ain't for me.

[dulwichmum]

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, meanwhile, I await the courier who is coming to collect my damaged Mulberry handbag - it is being taken away and returned to me as new...

[bigbadwolf]

O.K, I'm not a fan of Twitter but I am genuinely astonished about the repair of your handbag. Do you think it may be because you've promoted it in the past? If not then this Mulberry outfit have certainly got their head screwed on concerning their customer care.

I honestly can't think of a company that has or would do that. Top notch.

[ratty]

mate of mine kept up with the ashes on it yesterday with me tweeting him wickets. I was off work with a poorly child, who timed his illness to perfection. :)

[Keef]

I have just realised that Bare Groove are on twitter, so I guess I should speak highly of it. But I won't because it's annoying.

[dulwichmum]

How come it annoys you Keef sweetie? And if it is not something you use, how can it be an irritation?

[Huguenot]

I think that the landscape is unnecessarily blurred by social concepts such as Twitter. As individuals we employ many coping strategies to edit our interface with the rest of the world into manageable chunks ? we zone out the chatter of fellow restaurant guests for example.

We?d go nuts otherwise.

It?s interesting that Twitter allowed us to eavesdrop on the thoughts of Mumbai residents in the recent tragic attacks there, but if we?re honest it was not particularly illuminating. This isn?t to suggest people won?t post on things like Twitter or their Facebook status, as everyone likes to talk about themselves:

Twitter?s like a social event where everyone?s talking and no-one?s listening.

[dulwichmum]

Huguenot, I don't agree that everyone is talking and no-one is listening on Twitter. How could you explain that Mulberry are repairing my bag? My point is, that out there, you don't know who is listening.

This morning, when I went onto Twitter, I was alerted to the fact that there was an interesting article in The Independent, and as I read The Times and The Telegraph (clearly) - I could have missed it. I love the forum, but sometimes I pop in here for a chat - at any random time, and there is no-one around, or no thread that I want to engage with.

I use Twitter the same way. If I am commuting with a few minutes to kill, I look for something to engage with, I do not like to carry newspapers about - the print destroys my fabulous clothes. The thing that I like about Twitter is that if there is a conversation in progress that is funny and lots of people are enjoying, and one person engaging with it is consistantly rude or base or louder than everyone else,it is possible to zone out from that one loud voice, so that I don't have to see their posts at all. I can "unfollow" that voice and continue to enjoy the conversation. Everyone has a set number of characters that they can use, so that no voice takes over. The posts are short and snappy and I like it.

I am always disappointed to see that people who do not actually use some applications are the ones to shoot them down. I adored my Blackberry and would not hear of the iPhone being any better - my husband has one. The new iPhone is so terrific it is scarey, I was forced to use it when I got stuck on holiday, now I am converted. Increasingly I am coming to the conclusion that most things have their merits.

To say that everyone is talking and no-one is listening on Twitter, oh dear, have you tried it? Have you registered on it and engaged with a group of people who you like to chat with? It is just like texting. What's not to love? Perhaps dear Huguenot, you did register on it, but no-one was listening to you.

[bigbadwolf]

Without wanting to appear to be cosying up to Dulwichmum, that was a polite and clever method of putting mud in Huguenot's eye.

Ha ha Huguenot, I bet you feel like a right 'twit' now.

[HAL9000]

Careful BBW - you don't want to go there. Believe me, I know.

[bigbadwolf]

Been there, done that, had the t-shirt autographed. Huguenot doesn't scare me.

[HAL9000]

There's a t-shirt? Where do I get mine, then?

[bigbadwolf]

You get the unique t-shirt you're after from a sweat shop in Singapore, where Huguenot lives.

[HAL9000]

Pity. I don't fancy my chances of getting him to send me one. I think I'll get one printed locally for the next drinks. What's printed on your one?

[bigbadwolf]

"What's printed on your one?"

"Here lies the spot where Huguenot fell on his own sword."

Apart from whether he does or doesn't benefit from the toils of child labour in a t-shirt production line I think I remember Huguenot once stating that he's smug enough to employ a Malay toddler to kiss his hand before he ventures forth to earn his dubious crust in the unpredictable world of the Tiger economy.

[HAL9000]

I don't know what to say. I've been laughing so much these last few days I think I've strained a testicle.

[Huguenot]

I'll send you a t-shirt HAL9000, post restante at LL's post office, if anyone's working ;-)

Possibly DM, but I work in the industry so I take a great deal of interest in phenomena like Twitter. I've PM'd you the details.

One of the packages that I advise companies to take advantage of 'scrapes' the major social networking properties for any mention of their brand name. Algorithms measure the context in terms of positive/negative, and highlight potential foul-ups to a human operator. They'll then gauge relative importance and decide whether or not to act on it.

In your case the context was flagged, and the operator decided that a world famous media darling such as yourself was quite important in establishing good media communications.

Hence Mulberry's actions didn't necessarily occur because they were reading your tweets, a computer was. Don't be sad.

From a personal perspective Twitter is one more application doing the same thing. If I need to get hold of someone quickly an SMS text is more effective than a tweet, and the Facebook status on the Crackberry app keeps me up to date and in touch with people in a passive way.

None of the three methods is better than a call if you want to have a chat. Big clunky fingers and Crackberry keyboards doesn't make a pleasurable encounter. I'm sure that your elegant fingers are much more dextrous.

The other issue is whether your chosen application has critical mass amongst your friends and colleagues. For me Twitter doesn't.

A recent study into Twitter that you can find here, revealed some tasty morsels:

Content was broken down into six areas - News, Spam, Self-Promotion, Pointless Babble, Conversational and Pass-along value.

Pointless Babble was comments that were usually inconsequential and non-sequitors. For example "I'm eating a sandwich".

Pointless Babble formed 41% of all tweets, conversation 38% and self-promotion around 6%.

News and Pass-along-value were 4% and 9% respectively.

So it suggests you're partially right, but the vast majority of Tweets are just crap.

FYI Research suggests the 'shelf-life' of a tweet is around an hour to an hour and a half (before it get's lost in the other activity of your followers), it also suggests 'click through rates' of around 1%-2% (these are the people for whom your tweet has had sufficient impact that it's influenced someone to do something.

[bigbadwolf]

Bloody 'ell Huguenot! Couldn't you have just shrunk that into a more compact tweet rather than puffing out your chest again. I mean really, were all those facts and figures neccassary in combating such a petty issue in such a petty arguement.

Whether we like it or not (I don't), Twitter exists and people will use it.

[Huguenot]

I did, but it took 137 tweets.

I suppose we could say "Research proves Twitter mostly bullshit or gossip, news element overplayed, not much commerce".

[lard]

I love twitter, pointless babble and all. I like to put my random thoughts out there, and not particularly directed at anyone.

And it often makes me laugh, and gives me news.

Plus, how else can one keep updated on DM's comings and goings (smirks)?!

[Keef]

How come it annoys you Keef sweetie? And if it is not something you use, how can it be an irritation?

What annoys me is that our MPs are using it.

I have no problem with people teeting (?) away. I use Facebook, so will not be judgemental.

However, it annoys me that you can't really say much. It just feels like it's designed for teenagers using that God awful text speak. And for this very reason, when I turn on the radio in the morning, and hear that some big name polotician has responded to a major (and important) news story via Twitter, it makes my blood boil.

[RosieH]

It can help you land the job