"I'm Eating A Sandwich" is Twitter Winner!
Posted: Monday, August 17, 2009
by Michael Ramzy
delusionthread.com
Another beautiful day in American and here in Texas it is a cool 101 degrees. I know, most of
you are thinking it must be a cold front: I too wonder where summer went.
A rare day off and reading the news I come to find the Twitter Revolution is not quite living up to its name. Twitter, for those who don't know, is basically hyper-texting. The rule is 140 characters per transmission, or 'tweet', and most of those who use this service seem to love it. There is a twitter.com website and you can add yourself to Twitter by simply joining. Sounds easy.
And it is. And yet, being somewhat of a throwback, I wonder what the point is. I mean, I get 'texting', which many have perfected and which most of the youth of the world can do with two hands and while driving and doing homework. But twittering is something that seems, I don't know, superfluous at best. It seems to be a cross between facebook and a private bulletin board, and you can post (or tweet) yourself silly about your comings and goings and those in your group can read about your tweets. I thought that's what websites were for, and yet I was informed twittering is realtime - that is, rather than update a facebook page or website, you simply send out a tweet informing the world of your status.
A study was perfomed by a company in America called Pear Analytics which found over 40% of tweets are nonsense: that is, tweets such as 'I'm eating a sandwich' or 'going to sleep'. The rest was divided into tweets that could be considered useful, those that could be passed along (as in important messages), and those considered spam or self-promotion. The entire twitter thing is self-promotion, of course, but that's what the study concluded.
So twitter away. I am sure there are many out there who find this service useful. I will not debate that as many people, especially those in business for themselves, will reap some benefit from this. And yet, I don't understand why this 'new thing' is any different than regular texting for the rest of the people. I mean, does a sixteen year-old kid really need a twitter account? Probably not.
That's it for now. Have a great day and for those of you wondering:
No, I'm not eating a sandwich . . .
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Top-level comments on this article: (6 total)Michael, I have Twitter accounts, yes more than one. I am not up-to-date on them. The thing is, if you own the domain name, get a Twitter account, too so I did that. I find most of it superfluous, too. I have found tremendous value, use and benefit from a few tweets, though.
You can get info right off the press from Consultants, for example. For the nonprofit sector, I have found information that I didn't have to Google and I love doing research on the Internet. This saves time if you are a follower of someone in a position to provide info that is somewhat insider info until it's posted on a website somewhere.
I'm not fanatical about it and it's easy to get followers. I look at it similar to real life friendships. I do not spread myself too thin because when I take, I also want to give.
It'll be interesting to see what Twitter does to turn a profit, as they've yet to do that. No way will they invest millions into this without making it profitable. It is a free marketing tool for businesses. I guess you have to use that 80/20 rule. The smaller percentage are the followers who actually contribute and 80% are a waste of time. The numbers game applies even in twittering.
Meanwhile, I'll just tweet when I can or feel like it.
I didn't intend to get carried away and apologize. Your article is to blame. It stirred me up. I'm with you!Avis, I loved your response, it made me chuckle! Thanks, SteveSteve, thank you. I adore your sense of humor! It's funny how I was grinning at different parts of my comments and you picked up on it. I do get serious but usually get a giggle or two out of things, especially my reaction to them. Glad I made you chuckle!
I agree twitter is useful for many people, and also agree with you about the 80/20 - the 80% use is wastefully. In that regard it's like the Internet - most is junk but there is some useful information out there.I hope it doesn't sound like I'm against twitter or anything like that, since I really don't know enough about it. For those running (or hoping to run) a business it is probably a big help, but the majority of those using it seem to be using it as an alternative to texting, which is where the superfluous factor comes in.I guess it just boils down to the 'I'm having a sandwich' argument, though. How that information is said better on twitter (as opposed to regular texting) is beyond me. Thanks for reading and commenting. I appreciate it. Now I will have a sandwich!"I hope it doesn't sound like I'm against twitter or anything like that.."
Doesn't sound like that at all. Twitters being discussed all around the world and you have been kind.What kind of sandwich did you have?Turkey on whole wheat with romaine lettuce, mayo and horseradish. And lots of water (I'm in Texas, remember?).
Mike I can't leave responses on my articles something is wrong with my site so I'll respond from here. thank you for commenting on my article "I don't know I just don't know" Yes Walt Disney had the right ideaThanks David. I too notice the 'submit comment' button is different.
hi michael,e mail, texting, articles, and facebook are enough for me to handle.what category would be for those that want to see how many people follow them?i think maybe 1 out of 10 followers are someone i even know!I don't bother with it, but if it helps others, go for it.thanks for sharing,my best,sueI'm with you Sue, I have enough dealing with all you mentioned--Steve KovacsThanks for reading and commenting, as always.
Good article, my viewpoints exactly!Thanks, Steve. I appreciate it.
That whole "Twitter/Tweet" thing is somewhat of a mental block to me. I would like to know how in the world it would be useful for a business, (Mens cologne- 50% OFF!!) ?????????Fun article, Michael!I guess business could use it by sending out a blanket 'tweet' letting clients know about meetings, specials, etc. The operative word there is 'guess' since I really don't know. Perhaps this is the beginning of the end to the telephone? Thanks for reading and commenting.
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