If only it didn’t have such an inane name…
“Twitter.” How can you take that seriously? I mean, it sounds like you’re a bird with an even worse-than-usual bird brain. How can I use something with such a stupid-sounding name for work communication, which, according to the etiquette I’ve been familiar with over my working life should be very straight and un-silly (unless I’m communicating with coworkers I’ve known for years, that communication is just one-to-one, and we understand each other’s humor/weirdness without misconstruing it)?
OK, I should start at the beginning of my thought for the day. I attended our director’s talk on social networking/collaboration tools today, some of which I’d already heard/read the stats on (I was the official proofreader of the FACAC survey), but some of which was new. He is always a dynamic speaker. (Let’s just say that hour flew by, whereas in the following weekly meeting in the same room, when I’d felt I’d been there for several excruciating hours, I looked at my watch and it turned out it had only been a half hour. Imagine my shell-shockedness at 4:00 following the 2-hour ANGEL ops meeting plus half-hour ANGEL 7.3 timeline meeting…but I digress.) As of today, I’ve also read about three quarters of Tools for Thought, Howard Rheingold’s book written before the rise of the Web, which can be downloaded for free (Lawrence Lessig would approve), tracing the history of personal computing and the Internet, and the visionaries who conceived of just what we now call social computing. If you’ve followed my “Web 2.0 journey” over the last few years, you’ll know I baulked at blogging because I was afraid of broadcasting my thoughts as an introvert, plus afraid of revealing that I’m really a non-techie. You see, I’d love to be accepted/respected by the techies who surround me, yet I always have the nagging suspicion they would pretty much write off my thoughts/contributions and scoff at my lack of techie expertise/knowledge of mysterious lingo and acronyms (same reason I’m still too afraid to attend a BS Breakfast). Well, in spite of those fears, I’ve blogged—on more than one blog!—for over a year now, and some of my techie acquaintances have actually responded positively. Then—as documented on my blog!—I baulked at joining Facebook. I guess there was a measure of fear of weirdos stalking me, but more to the point, I didn’t understand what I would do there/find interesting once I did so. Well, it would be really boring if I’d joined, then not become anyone’s friend or shared profile info and updates with others, but I both befriended (yes, the correct English term would be “befriended,” not “friended”) people and shared some of myself, then genuinely became interested in checking daily to see what was on my friends’ minds that day or hour. I’ve learned a lot about them in a good way, and that’s not always easy at work, where not only I but some of my coworkers are introverts.
Now, I’m realizing, I’m missing out on sharing of information about our department’s endeavors, ideas, and just general creative energy by baulking at joining Twitter. I am actually interested and curious (while still grimacing at the name), but once again, I feel trepidation. Can I control who sees my messages, or can any deranged/dangerous person become my “groupie”? I ask this because in the last couple weeks, I was idly browsing Firefox add-ons, and became interested enough in Clipmarks to add it and begin making “clippings” from Web pages, then feed them to a widget I added to my other blog. Well, within the first 24 hours, some weirdos from who knows where in the world commented on my clippings in an unsettling manner, and I had to figure out how to block them. OK, readers, you must admit, it *can* be a scary world out there.
Also regarding Twitter, I have no concept of whether you can just see posts about, e.g., ETS projects, without seeing, e.g., a post such as made me run away in the other direction when I first learned of Twitter and an unnamed coworker really, truly did mention showering (an all-too-true “amusing” example mentioned in today’s talk). Maybe I’m the only one, but I can really only cope with work if there are certain aspects of coworkers’ personal lives that thankfully remain a mystery.
So, I’m opening up the floor to comments, points of encouragement for why I should either sign up or continue my lack of participation.
Off-topic: Since I’ve had my youngest cat, eight years now, whenever I’ve hired a cat sitter, the sitters have never seen her. However, on my vacation just finished, there was a breakthrough where kitty actually went upstairs and the sitter saw her. Eventually, like her, I think my curiosity usually overcomes my baulking.
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I have my own Twitter angst as you can see on my blog response
http://www.personal.psu.edu/ejp10/blogs/tlt/2008/07/ah-the-twitter-debate.html
The shy kitty story is encouraging though.
Mary, I just finished reading and commenting at EP's blog about her issues with Twitter as well. You post seems to have a different tone and seems to be inviting comments ... so, here it goes. I think I've told you before that I look forward to seeing new content from you in your blog -- always so well written and honest. For what its worth, it has allowed me to get to know you better and understand your perspectives on things in ways I wouldn't have otherwise. As for Twitter, setting the name aside, I think it has to power to do the same.
I think there are some surprising social consequences of joining a fluid environment like Twitter that are not quite as evident in a blog or even FB. One of the things you referenced liking about FB is knowing what your friends are up to at any given time. Twitter is like that, but on steroids. I can't convince anyone they need to participate -- either you'll find it useful or you won't. You've seen how people use it professionally (either to create communities of practice or to promote work like we do with the etstalk account) and sometimes not so professionally (think of the shower example).
I know I'd follow you. If that sounds creepy, know that I follow your blog as well ;-) Even though the name is silly (and I still wince when I say that "I tweeted something") it is a valuable platform to explore. I'll leave with two other thoughts ... work is supposed to have some feeling of silliness and fun associated with it. We spend far too much time at work not to find ways to lighten the cognitive load. So if you feel it is too far outside the boundaries of serious work, then its time to get up and walk around the office and laugh at some stuff every now and then. Finally, I'll take it as a compliment that my talk went by faster than an ANGEL Opps meeting!
I have a love/hate relationship with Twitter.
Yes. Once you've created an account, go the the account tab in settings and check the box labeled "Protect my updates." This will ensure that your tweets are visible only to those whom you've befriended.
You will only see tweets from people that you've befriended. However, you can't pick and choose which of their tweets that you see. I could post a thought-provoking URL one minute, then launch into vulgar, profane TMI the next—hey, it's like real life!—and there would be no way to see one and not the other. This hasn't been a problem for me.
Everyone uses Twitter differently. There is a "clique" of people that I follow who use it for conversation amongst themselves. This is less creepy than it sounds, but does lead to a very high volume of tweets. Some people are more low-key and post less frequently.
Think of it as a lot of Facebook status messages.
Give it try! I'd friend you, and I'm the obvious username if you'd like to friend me.
Despite trying my hardest to shirk the moniker, I suppose I'm one of those techie types. Don't ever be shy about admitting that you are a non techie - truth be told, you are probably a better person because of it =) You'll never be judged as long as you are willing to ask questions and keep an open mind. At least not by anyone worth your time, in my humble opinion. Now come on down to the BS Breakfast!
As for Twitter...
I've been a twitter junkie for quite a while now, but I can most certainly appreciate your hesitation. Oddly enough, my inspiration for getting involved started with some of the themes you mentioned in your post. "This Twitter thing is so stupid, but I'm clearly missing something by not participating".
Ultimately my take on Twitter, or Blogging, or Facebook, or any social tool is that if it can start good conversations that wouldnt have happened otherwise, then its worth it. And by that metric, Twitter is most certainly worth it. Its given me a much richer look into what friends and colleagues are up to, turned me on to some great resources and ideas, and of course, inspired/ facilitated some great conversations.
The downside, as you pointed out, is that if you ask the world "what they are doing" there is going to be a lot of fluff, and that can be a hard thing to parse through.
I suppose its a catch 22 in a way. Reading what a co-worker had for dinner might reveal some commonality between you, or share some insight into this "person" that you only sort of know, or start an interesting conversation. But how much do you really care what your office mates are eating? Unlike blogging, the 140 character limit seems to lower the barriers to entry - depending on your perspective, that can be a good thing or a bad thing.
I'd say give it a month and decide for yourself =)