Ask YC: Why should I care about Twitter?
Are many of our news.YC users also Twitter users? What do you find that you like about Twitter?
So, with twitter, you just broadcast something to a bunch of your "friends", while in the east coast you would just normally text few of your friends directly.
And, there is a good reason they call it "California RSVP". Some people call it shallow, some call it "laid-back", it depends on your point of view, but I have gotten used to it.
I guess, you could also argue that in the east coast, people are less friendly, so you have fewer friends and people have to keep them closer and dearly, or that in SF there is a lot of stuff to do, and people can get easily ditracted.
BTW. I am european, so don't want to transform this in a west coast vs. east coast thing.
When it comes to twitter, I am not sure how much the general crowd would be interested in it. Taking example something like blogs: it has instant appeal in a lot of people, because basically it is an online diary.
A lot of people have diaries, and bringing them online was something natural.
But twitter? I am not sure it solves a need to the general masses, except for the hyperconnected ones.
If you think back 8 or 10 years, a lot of people didn't understand blogs. They were dismissed as being the online diaries of a bunch of self-centered 20-somethings and teenagers. Who would want to read that What were they good for?
I think Twitter (microblogging) is in the same place blogs were, and where the web itself was in 1994 and 1995. We're still determining what can be used for and how it can be used. Already, the Twitter community has changed the rules. Twitter isn't what Obvious originally thought it would be two years ago. Keep in mind, Twitter began in March 2006.
I find the service is basically a big giant intrusion into my life. 99% of the crap that pops up I just don't care about. 99% I put into the thing I can guarantee others don't care about either.
I think this social networking stuff has huge scaling problems outside of the navel gazing that happens both in the valley and during one's college years. Most people outside of these zones feel neither the need nor the desire to be that connected to others.
This isn't a knock on twitter as a service, just a general observation. It's going to take a profound change in thinking to create a world that twitter and others can truly exploit. This could also just be this Gen X'er showing his age, so take my comment with a grain of salt.
It's like saying, 99% of the stuff on television is crap but failing to realize that you control the tv and you don't have to watch that stuff!
Like I said, we're talking personal preferences here, so don't get so emotional about it.
"ShoeMoney: Sure you follow people you care what they say and then are alerted when they say something. Its a great cross between a instant messenger and a blog."
people like to play silly games, and change things like mood, or the music they are playing.
the social notice I want? was the phone call I got a 7am a few weeks ago a friend telling me her fiance and my former room-mate had died.
or how about a text saying, "wanna meet for lunch?"
I haven't used twitter, but the whole social thing seems a waste of time. I have better things to be doing, like building a business, or school, or finding a job to help me pay the bills in the mean time.
Speaking of lunch, I've used it for that as well. Once your friends start using Twitter enough, it's easy to shoot them a message and ask if they want to grab lunch especially if they're in the same area.
'once your friends start using twitter enough'
it's proprietary and unstandardized, unlike email or phone numbers where it doesn't matter as much what network you are on, you can still make and receive messages. (I know cells are very proprietary, but you can still get calls right?).
That's the thing that bugs me about Twitter.. It's essentially just another walled garden. But that aside, maybe the model is cool, and a good way to follow friends and acquaintances. So is anyone creating open/unwalled pub-sub software that anyone can use on any server for a similar purpose?
but w/twitter... it was different. after you get past certain barriers, it becomes a conversation.
some people use the sms function to blast all their friends "wanna meet for lunch". hey, if you only need to send once, right and pay once?
there are business leaders on twitter and some really smart people. think of twitter as a party that goes on 24/7. you get interesting conversation.
sometimes, some people come in and shouts out that they're on ustream, and hey a couple of people slip out to go to that room. while everyone else keeps the conversation going.
sometimes, you get the really breaking news. other times, you get good links to interesting stuff.
there are times, you just listen in on a conversation between two twitters and you learn stuff.
how do you keep up? you don't. you don't need to keep up. you can miss stuff and that's ok. i use growl on the mac to give me a heads up when someone twitters. that way, i don't have to actually be directly engaged. just think of it as background conversation in the office. And of course you can really turn it off.
just my two cents.
Just because you can use a tool to do something, doesn't mean you should.
IMHO, IM/IRC/email/blog all work far better for communication.
Someone uses the telephone to do telemarketing to try to sell you carpet and from that you understand what the telephone is "for"?
IM/IRC/email/blog are all different - from each other and from Twitter. As is the telephone. Or SMS. Or...
I'm sure it's sort of useful for some things for some people, but I can't see it going mainstream.
It's not terribly "social" for me yet as only one friend also has an account. People have remarked before that if you live in the valley or work in certain types of companies or communities then you'll get more activity (and, potentially, more disturbance as well).
(complements of HN a day or two ago)
Personally, I'm still not a user, but the conceptualization of Twitter as more than a simple messaging service significantly raises its value in my eyes.
Not all of my friends need to be people I see (physically) just as not all of the people, I see (physically) are my friends.
Twitter is a 24-hour come-as-you-are blockparty. People come and go, talk and listen. Some of them already know each other, many of them don't.
Twitter is lifestreaming, 140 characters at a time.
Twitter is quick updates, questions, answers. Twitter is "I've got a 2-hour layover at SFO. Anyone want to grab coffee?"
Twitter is microblogging. Twitter is nanoblogging!
Twitter is writing practice. How much can you say in such a small space?
Twitter is a tool. Use it (or don't use it). As you use it more, you may come to see its value to you. If you don't, that's alright too.
Twitter-Me This: http://www.gee.ky/blog/2008/05/twitter-me-this.html
My reasons include: Social Network, Keeping in Touch, Minutia Can Be Meaningful, Mobile Chatroom, Information On-The-Go, Privacy Shield, Accessibility, Forced Short-Form Communication, Pulse of the World, Proxy, and Brand-Monitoring.
Facebook encompasses Twitter's functionality too, but no one really uses the status updates like they do with Twitter.
<sidenote>Who knows where the pulse will be in a few months time. Everything changes so quickly.</sidenote>