Brand Mix

I'm not the early adopter type generally. I like to wait for bugs to be figured out and the format standard to be decided before I take the plunge with a new technology. So take these comments about my first impressions of Twitter as coming from someone who has arrived at the party earlier than he usually would. I know that many of Twitter's quirks and bugs will be fixed sooner or later and that, one day, the fail whale won't be needed anymore and will be released back to the ocean whence it came.

5 Things I Like

1) Quick capture: The main reason I started my blog was as a way to record ideas and observations. But there are plenty of mini-ideas that don't warrant a whole post. Twitter is perfect for recording those, especially when I'm traveling and can quickly type something into my Blackberry.

2) The 140 character limit: I think the 140 character limit forces efficiency, encourages creativity and makes Twitter unique. But perhaps Flutter would be even better?

3) Information finding and sharing: I'm using Twitter more and more both as a source of interesting things to read and as a way to find out what people are thinking in real time about an issue or a company. I'm not ready to give up on Google quite yet but Twitter has given me a new source of information that's already eating into my Google usage.

4) Events: I started using Twitter at the Economist Marketing Forum (#ecsf09) and it's perfect for events like these. I'd previously tried blogging live but that didn't work out very well. Twitter works because it's fast and immediate, plus I got to meet the band of fellow Twitterers.

5) The Twitter revolution: It's fun being part of a social media phenomenon. Twitter is growing at 1382% right now with over six million more users joining in the last year. I've already connected with some great people with interesting things to say about brands and business.

5 Things I Don't

1) Reply all: Twitter is set up so that the default reply goes to all followers. You can send a direct message but that requires an extra step making it the less chosen path. So, you end up seeing a lot of tweets that don't make any sense because you didn't see the original message. (Made-up but realistic example: "Thanks @xyz I agree with you. Brilliant idea. 46 sounds right.") Overall, I think that Twitter's format encourages poor netiquette and the only recourse is to remove frequent offenders from the people you are following.

2) Chaos and disorganization: There is very little and not enough organization: no way to group people and no easy way to classify or categorize tweets. There are some workarounds and perhaps some applications I haven't discovered yet but, overall, it's a big mess, and a mess that gets in the way of efficient use.

3) Tweets about twitterers who tweet about tweeting: The self-referential dial on Twitter is turned all the way up to eleven, past the point of comfortable and easy listening. (And, yes, I know that the content of this post takes away my right to criticize but I'm doing it anyway.) Also, while I'm at it, I'm no big fan of The Great Twitter Race where people are trying to amass more followers than anyone else. Quality over quantity, my friends.

4) Boosterism: Ever been in an audience where the people in the front lead a standing ovation and you're not quite sure that you want to join in but then you have to because everyone else is? To switch analogies, Twitter is sometimes too much like the Mexican wave.

5) Empty Calories: The key question is: Do the benefits of Twitter outweigh the inevitable distraction of having another application open which entices you to click on it and see what's happening. With the current level of chaos, there's a lot of time wasted making the cost side of this equation higher than it needs to be. That said, I'm still giving Twitter the benefit of the doubt for now. I'll keep you posted.