Thoughts on Twitter

I prepared this originally for a gathering of the "The Village", a networking group in Houston. The conversations occurring among the members were far more interesting than these meager thoughts, so I kept my silence that day. Since a few kind souls asked about what I *would* have addressed in the talk that day, I'm posting it here.

"Twitter - How to use it and not alienate the very people you're trying to reach."

Definition

Twitter is defined in Wikipedia as "a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read each others' updates, known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters, displayed on the author's profile page and delivered to other users - known as followers - who have subscribed to them. Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends or, by default, allow open access."

Well, fine, but what is Twitter, really? I suspect that if you were able to dig down and get the true meaning of Twitter, it would be just a bit different for each Twitterer.

How can you use Twitter? Twitter is just a tool. Any benefit from it is due to the way it is used - and that is likely different for each Twitterer.

1) Some folks follow only real-life friends, perhaps 2-10 people. With those numbers, it's quite possible to read every tweet that comes by.

2) Some folks follow a few, but by virtue of being celebrities or tech leaders, they may have hundreds of thousands, even millions of followers. (See aplusk (Ashton Kutcher) for one example)

3) Others follow other twitterers with similar interests. Often this starts small, but can quickly grow into hundreds or even thousands as one discovers more folks with similar interest. Obviously reading every tweet every day would leave little time for things like sleep.

This is my mode of using Twitter. I think of the Twitter stream as a river flowing past. Once or twice a day, I'll dip a toe in to see what's happening right then. The conversation may lead me to look at what a few individual Twitterers have said. Time spent: 2-15 minutes.

Now that you have a sense of what Twitter is (in a broad sense, at least), I'd like to give you tips that may make your Twitter experience a bit more enjoyable and productive. These will take the forms of "Do's" and "Don'ts". I think you'll likely be able to tell which is which.

1) Imagine a cocktail party, where you are *not* the host and don't know any of the other guests. Would you arrive and immediately start taking over the conversation?

Of course not. (I hope not, anyway.) And yes, I know that I've just done exactly that here, but in this case, I'm the "host". ;)

More than likely you'd *listen* for a while, to determine the type of crowd and the sorts of conversation that were acceptable in that environment.

Only after learning a bit about the people would you offer anything more than idle chit-chat.

Twitter is like that cocktail party - a really *big* cocktail party.

2) In order to learn a bit about the people who use Twitter, start to follow a few folks to see how they are using it. These may be people you know or complete strangers. A mix of the two is a good way to begin. You'll find that some of the people you follow tweet things of value to you & some (possibly many) don't. Unfollow the ones who don't interest you. Then see who the others are following. It's a good way to discover others who may interest you.

3) There is no one *right* way to use Twitter, but there are *wrong* ways to use it. I know that you marketing folks know this, but sometimes the rest of us need a reminder: "Marketing is *not* advertising!" Try to provide some useful information in what you tweet - and mention whatever it is that you're trying to promote no more than once or twice a day. Twitter spam is no more appreciated than e-mail spam.

4) Unless you want your only follower to be your mother, try to tweet something other than "Driving to work now." and "Going to lunch now." Again, tweeting some useful information, especially if it's interesting to those of similar interests is the best way to get and keep followers.

Finally, many Twitter pundits suggest that Twitter etiquette dictates that you follow everyone who follows you. I think that's a fine way to begin, as you're likely to find some interesting folks that way. After a while, though, you'll find that many of those Twitterers don't share the same interests as you and that their tweets are... boring - at least to you. Periodically, I "unfollow" Twitterers who haven't engaged me (directly or indirectly) recently. So far, I haven't received any nasty comments from any of those folks.

In short, Twitter is an ongoing conversation among a widely (and wildly) diverse group. Just as in "real life", we can participate (or not) to degree that we choose. Choose wisely.

More Second Life® fun & games...

I've spent an interesting time in Second Life® recently. There have been lots of changes - it looks as though we will be losing our campus island due to budget cuts. I've responded by getting a small space of my own to do some development work. I may be able to host a few small meetings there as well. It's my first time to own land on the mainland, so I'm paying tier straight to the Lindens. This will be a new experience. Now I'll need to do some work there to justify the expense.

I played a fantastic new game in-world last week. It took about 2-3 hours over several evenings to get through it. The KAAOS Effect is an adventure exploration game hosted by Orange, the French telecomm outfit with a significant SL presence. MadPea Productions built the game and provided a significant presence on the sim to aid the early players. The concept reminded me of a very simplified MYST filtered through the lens of film noir. It's the most engaging game I've seen in-world. I don't want to let any spoilers slip, but the game proceeds in a series of "scenes", each of which is represented by a room-sized build. Moving from scene to scene triggers a holodeck-type device which removes the old set or scene and replaces it with the next. It would seem that the approach could be used quite effectively for serious games as well.
The Kaaos Effect , Orange Island (63, 22, 29)

This past weekend, I attended several sessions of the "Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education Conference 2009". Saturday provided a couple of eye-opening presentations. First up was a mini-sim (8,000+ sqm) devoted to the exploration of the teachings of some of the most notable psychological and psychiatric theorists, called (naturally enough) "The Theorists Project". Montclair State University professors AJ Kelton and Edina Renfro-Michel worked with undergraduate and graduate students to create an environment that lets visitors experience the ideas and approaches of Adler, Frankl, Freud, Gestault, Jung, Maslow and Rogers, although several areas aren't ready for public viewing yet. Freud's area includes a recreation of his office and allows a visitor to learn about Freud by conversing with a "Freudbot" while lying on Freud's famous couch, of course! The Freudbot utilizes a link to a web-based server hosting "Freud" using AIML - the Artificial Intelligence Markup Language. The depth of the exchanges with "Freud" rather surprised me. From the office, one can explore Freud's id, superego, and ego by ascending through layers of an iceberg. This is truly one of the most impressive uses of a virtual environment to explore some rather abstract concepts that I've encountered.
The Theorists Project, Montclair State CEHSADP (78, 199, 23)

While the Freudbot was impressive (& I'll be exploring that technology more in the future), I was quite impressed with a new tool being developed by Anne Ogborn (Annie Obscure in SL). She's been designing "guided tours" for SL builds, the chief distinguishing feature of which is that the "guideposts" (my term) are not a permanent part of the build. "The Pathways to Knowledge Quest Framework Tool" parts are rezzed only when requested by a visitor. This "impermanence" allows the same build to be used for education purposes (think museum) and for role-playing (think renaissance faire). An added benefit is that when the "guideposts" with their included scripts and accoutrements are put away, they don't impact the performance of the sim, but are available for use as needed. Again, this is something that I haven't seen in a virtual world before. Annie Obscure plans to have the Tool available soon. I suggest that you IM Annie Obscure in SL for more info.

I'll likely post more as I digest everything I saw and heard in-world this weekend.