electro^plankton

I too thought twitter was such a stupid idea. What was the point of another chat-like community that isn't instantaneous? I already have AIM and email. Twitter's tag-line is "what are you doing?" Umm, do other people really care that I'm bathing my dog right now? Apparently they do.

Twitter taps into a characteristic that all humans thrive on; communication. Everything we do centers around it. However, culture and proper social edicts limit the freeform flow of "talk". Twitter reinstates that. I can't go up to a stranger in person and say, "I'm going home to bathe my dog". I'd probably get the strangest look from them. But on twitter that comment would be followed by, "what kind of dog do you have?" Thus, conversation builds meandering, twisting and turning often ending up on a topic totally unrelated to the original subject. That's the beauty of twitter; freeform conversation.

That's just one example tho. Twitter can also be limited between friends and groups. For instance, my coworkers pass around ideas and links all day. The obvious solution is to use an instant messenger? True, we've tried that but it doesn't work. You see, instant chat demands just that - instant chat. It encourages people to articulate as if in a real-time conversation. However, not everyone can respond instantaneously and a feeling of IM abandon ensues. It's as if people feel, "nobody else is chatting, why should I?" Thus the whole experience collapses. Twitter allows for delay. People understand responses are not instantaneous. They understand sharing does not necessitate an immediate response. Twitter provides a unified platform for those ideas and links my coworkers pass around all day to be centrally read, discussed and archived.

What really hooked me into using twitter was during Steve Job's famous iPhone and iTV unveilings. I couldn't be there but I wanted information as fast as it was being announced. Online news publications couldn't deliver the info fast enough. Bloggers are faster but there's definitely a delay, not to mention a biased view. Twitter had a MacWorld Keynote group. I joined the group and before I knew it, dozens of people were blasting off with live up-to-the-minute updates. They were delivering news as fast Mr. Jobs spoke. No point was missed and the experience made me feel like I was really there.

"The audience is swooning, the crowds are cheering, OMG he just pulled the iPhone out for a second and quickly hid it back in his shirt pocket. I caught a glimpse of shimmer, a very thin shimmer".

The experience was unique because while people were certainly opinionated, there were others just delivering the hard facts. I felt educated about the realities of the iPhone and caught some of the emotion that must have been swept across the auditorium. Ever since that experience, I've continually used twitter for other conventions and expos, namely SWSX and CES. Even in situations where it demands the person be in more than one place at a time, twitter scaled nicely. With so many twittering from different booths on the show floor, news disseminated faster than blogs ever could.

The most recent development in twittering is the integration with 3rd party software. As reported by Chris Davies at Slashgear, a twitterer hooked his account up with his home automation software. Using a small desktop twitter client like Twitterrific (Mac only), he now receives updates from his home via twitter. He even plans to hook-up a webcam on his front porch and have twitter send him a TinyURL link with a live feed when someone comes to the front door.

So you see, twitter's simplicity is precisely why it's successful. Random conversation between strangers and friends seem like a waste of time but when the conversation is good, you can't help but get sucked in. You guys can find my twitters here.

Thanks to Logic + Emotion for the diagram.
Twitterrific screencap from Slashgear.