Twitter is a waste (or: I just do not get it)

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Bill Greenberg               www.goodcomputerguy.com« Your Inbox is Huge! |Main| Twitter - I missed something »

Twitter is a waste (or: I just do not get it)Tags: Internet
I'mabout to give up on Twitter again.  I can admit it: my name is Bill(actually, GoodComputerGuy),and I just do NOT get it.  Sure, I've occasionally stumbled acrossan interesting link, and there's one guy who I think is a riot. But I hardlyever see his updates because they're mixed in with so much noise.  AndI'm not even following that many people.  I've tried to jump intoconversations, but people seldom reply back to me (because I'm boring,or because they don't see my replies in with all the other noise?)  I'veheard that Twitter is the fastest place to get answers so this morningI tweeted a techie question - I got nuthin'.  I can solve that questionin seconds with a Google search anyway.

So please, what the heck am I missing? How do people get anything useful out of Twitter?  How do theyfollow so many people without missing "important" tweets (arethere any?)  I can barely handle following 4 or 5 people who I thinkmight possibly be interesting.  Seriously - how do you handle dozens,hundreds, or thousands (yes, I've tried Tweetdeck, Twhirl, etc)?  There'sjust waaaaayyyyy too much noise to pick out anything useful unless you'researching for a very specific topic.  And even then, good luck.  Isthere anyone actively getting use out of Twitter who actually has a realjob?  My burning question: why does Twitter have so much buzz?  It'severywhere and doesn't look like it's going away.Posted by Bill Greenberg On 04/14/2009| Digg This | Permalink

Comments 1 - If it helps you, I've never heard of it.
XO
TracePosted by Tracy At 10:43:29 AM On 04/14/2009 |- Website - |

2 - Nice post... I only see updates from the people I'm following, so there's not a lot of clutter. Alert tweets from the police, etc., are sometimes handy, but otherwise, I agree, what's all the fuss?
Posted by Ralph At 04:30:35 PM On 04/14/2009 |- Website - |

3 - Hey Bill. Bummer you're still not able to find good use from Twitter. I've been having a lot of fun with it personally.

It sounds to me like you're trying too hard and you're looking for it to pay off immediately. With twitter, like blogging, it takes time to build your community. You have to give just as much as you take from Twitter.

You shouldn't expect to get a good answer from people with one random quesiton and ony 45 followers. Twitters power is in the numbers as far as gewtting good feedback is concerned. You'll need to spend time building a bigger group of followers. But, sometimes, you have to expect that no one will happen to be reading their twitter stream when you post your quesiton. Post the question again later in the day or the next day and you may have better luck.

I check my twitter feed about once or twice a day from work. I'll see what the last couple dozen tweets from people I'm following are. Usually, there's one or two interesting articles or useful links. For me, that's worth the two minutes it takes me to read through the list of tweets.

I'll also take another 5 minutes re-tweeting interesting stuff, posting a link to my latest blog post, and replying to any of the tweets that I feel like I should reply to. Sometimes I get a response, sometimes I don't, but I find the more I reply to someone, the more they notice mer and the more likely they are to respond to my tweets.

The best part is, I can take a week off and jump right back into twitter after a week and not miss a beat....everyone is still there tweeting away.

Anyway, I felt I had to defend why I find value in Twitter, but I think you're trying too hard to make it work for you. Just go with the flow, use it when you feel like it, and I have a feeling it will grow on you over time. Posted by YFNCG At 01:06:25 PM On 04/15/2009 |- Website - |

4 - Oh, I plan on using it when I feel like it - which is about to be just about never. I keep hearing about how it's a great resource. Yet, as you say, no one may happen to be reading the stream when I post. What on earth is the value there?? I'm generally able to answer questions in seconds or minutes with a little Googling. I just wasted more time this morning reading/watching about how people follow 10's of thousands of other people. And I remain fairly convinced that it's a huge waste of time to tweet or be followed. I was open to it, but there's just no value there. This video sums it up nicely (and hilariously): { Link }Posted by Bill Greenberg - Good Computer Guy At 01:46:11 PM On 04/15/2009 |- Website - |

5 - Well, you gave it a shot and it wasn't your thing. That's more than I can say for some other people who just refuse to give stuff like that a try. Your an adventurous man, Bill! Posted by YFNCG At 05:43:06 PM On 04/15/2009 |- Website - |

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