Is Twitter useful? Really?
It seems that the media cover a story on Twitter every day. Here are just 5 of today’s publications from some reputable media outlets:
- Why is Darren Bent on Twitter? by the Telegraph.
- Debate is delayed by Twitter row by BBC News.
- US start-up finds way to pay via Twitter by guardian.co.uk.
- Twittering your way to happiness by Times Online.
- For Companies, a Tweet in Time Can Avert PR Mess by The Wall Street Journal.
From this, you could easily be lead into the belief that Twitter is a popular service. But, is it really? I mean, put the media and the wanna-be-cool companies aside, and what do you have?
Well, in short, you have nothing. Nearly all of Twitter’s users tweet “Signing up for Twitter” and never come back. So, that just leaves thousands of businesses trying to reach-out to their customers, but who are in fact just tweeting to themselves.
The “ordinary” Internet user does not understand Twitter. It is a linear, one-to-many, restrictive messaging facility. What are they supposed to do with it? They are not bloggers. (Or micro-bloggers, even). They don’t want to talk to the world. They want to talk to people — known and new — to share information with who they choose. Well, you can do this with Twitter; but, the lack of space to express anything useful and the linearity of the service is what makes it so inaccessible.
The features which make Twitter so inaccessible are the same ones that make it wholly unique. While it is great for bloggers to post “Look, I’ve posted this new article [LINK]“, it is really difficult to express anything more using just the service or to have bi-directional (or multi-directional) conversations. And even if it wasn’t, what does it have to offer to compete with Facebook, Instant Messaging and good-old E-mail?
One thing Twitter is claimed to be good for is spreading information fast. In fact, I quite often read about tweets breaking a news story 20 minutes before the BBC or whatever. But, still, I and many others heard it from the BBC — not Twitter. And who would I have to follow to get the news first? Everyone? While many people may post about events as-they-happen, it still takes a long time for those listening to hear anything, unless you are closely associated with certain people. And even then, you only manage to get 140-character snippets: vague opinions and small notes of the event.
So, Twitter isn’t a social network. Its very simplicity has made it difficult to use. And, it’s not even that good at spreading information. So is it useful? Really?
(I know this may be too critical, and I sound obnoxious. I do think Twitter is a very useful service. But, its usage is very unique and not the kind of service which is useful for everybody; or most people, even).
Comments
thanks for this post. it’s the 1st time i read something reflecting my (non-)usage of twitter after signing up to the service. i’d love to know the following stat: how many twitters registered users have logged in less than 5 times in the last year? probably more than one can imagine after reading all the buzz around that site…
I agree with what you said, Twitter isn’t that useful. I mean it’s caught on, but only by ‘hip’ companies that believe they need to communicate like that. I prefer what AT&T has done and set up a fan-page on facebook. Facebook is something that everyone has, and on top of that they aren’t restricted to <140 characters.