Back on the silly microblog

[jducoeur]

In case anybody cares: I've gotten myself back onto Twitter again. I've actually had an account there for ages, but haven't checked it since their IM integration broke months ago. (It's been at "we'll fix it Real Soon Now" ever since, and I can't be bothered to go to their website.)

But in my business, Twitter is kind of expected (you're not anybody in social media these days if you're not on the thing), so I finally downloaded a decent client (Twhirl), and I'm up and running again. I still think it's essentially a toy, but it's one of the few services in approximately the same space as CommYou. (That is, easy semi-realtime conversation.) It serves as a good constant reminder to me of what I'm trying to do better.

Anyway: I have my usual handle over there; feel free to friend me...

Comments

[jducoeur]

Well, I have three main blogs, but they're all used for very different things. Art of Conversation is a very focused professional blog. My LJ account is where I talk about more or less Everything Else. And Twitter is ideal for those little one-line observations that I don't think are really worth an LJ post. (Also, it's rather more real-time than LJ is.)

[jenwrites.livejournal.com]

I'm still not sure why Twitter is more real-time, or why it's better for short observations, though. I can post any length to my LJ, and at any time. I guess I'm not understanding their sales pitch.

[laurion]

Much of the more real-time nature is the approach it takes to pushing the posts you make, rather than waiting for people to pull them. Twitter can push direct to your IM account, your cell phone by SMS, or to whatever client you are using, many of which ping the user when new posts show. And the short length leads to more casual two-way conversation. Think of it as a little bit like a chatroom for you and your social network without any of the overhead.

[jenwrites.livejournal.com]

Ah, I see why I don't get it. I find the thought of having this stuff pushed to me really annoying. I'd rather schedule time to sit down and read blog postings at my convenience. But then again, I don't IM, and I don't text message.

[jducoeur]

Ah -- yeah, if you don't like realtime push, the Twitter is definitely not the tool for you...

[jducoeur]

It's not how you post, it's how other people read those postings. I *receive* Twitter posts almost in realtime: they pop up immediately in my client. While it's not IM (as discussed elsethread), it is fast enough that it has IMish realtime-like feel. The result is a rather different sort of interaction than is typical in LJ.

You don't *have* to do Twitter in realtime, of course -- but at that point, it does start to become useless, IMO...