From my forum post…
As an IT & Marketing Manager, social network sites seemed to be an inevitable convergence of the dual disciplines I practise so I reluctantly adopted Twitter in my professional role back in January. “Reluctantly” because I’m aware the young demographic of users are not the business’ target market of decision makers; but there seems to be wider-stakeholder expectations to embrace social networking. On a practical level, I needed to reserve the username and not end up with some ugly username suffixed with a numerical sequence (that reminder of how common your name really is) to prevent an impostor masquerading as us.
I remind myself that Twitter keeps 14 year old schoolgirls happy gossiping about their lives and as an adult, it is hard to draw any meaning from this. Perhaps, that’s where Twitter shines. It’s an equalizer. In a society that seems to be increasingly segmented (socio-economically) perhaps Twitter provides a platform for celebrities, the rich and the poor to talk about what’s important to them. Okay it may seem mundane and not ‘news worthy’ but there is no obligation to read Tweets. The platform itself and potentially the content will determine popularity.
I think people fear Twitter but I’m not talking about the same sect of luddites that feared the Web would bring social destruction (Jury’s still out) nor those that simply fear what they don’t really understand – there’s an ‘educated fear’ with two dimensions:
1. Information-overload. This concern is mentioned often but because, as academics, we yearn for information; we get concerned that our minds will be filled with irrelevant babble. Well, the test is in using and developing the tools to filter the stream for the bits important to us. It would be ludicrous to cut the stream off at it’s source for everybody, we just need to construct our own dams so we can filter, cache and digest the pool of information.
2. Obligation. I think the second aspect of the fear we have about Twitter is how obliged we are to use it. It is prevalent and that momentum of usage makes us feel obliged to use it. Listening to Radio 4’s Feedback a few weeks ago (any true morbid cynic like myself is required to listen to other people complain about the trivial), someone complained that some BBC content was only available on Twitter. It’s terrible to think that a publicly funded impartial organisation has now inadvertently promoted a commercial service to the point of mandating its usage for the access of content. Constant endorsements of Twitter by organisations makes us feel obliged to use it.
Okay so we’re now feeling obliged to use something we don’t understand and will overload our mental capacity with irrelevant information tweeted by 14 year olds on a bus. ‘People vote with their feet’ so to speak. There isn’t any legislation to force the adoption of Twitter so like most commercial enterprises, it’s seemingly endless supply of information depends on demand.
In all seriousness, there is one reason despite the negatives disussed by others and myself that I like Twitter. The more discerning of us are increasingly frustrated with big media organisations’ manipulation of news with agendas abeit political or commercial etc. Twitter is an incredible way to get news fast disseminated globally but importantly uncensored. It’s a shame that the governments of some of those countries where people would benefit most from uncensored information have banned Twitter – perhaps a sign in reocgnition of Twitter’s power to instigate social change.
Out of interest, what does everybody think about Cameron’s consideration of banning Twitter due to the civil unrest in late 2011 in some of the UK major cities?