As you point out, Twitter shouldn’t be about Twitter, it should simply be one of the many tools you can use to make your life easier.

Interesting thoughts on Twitter. I have only been using Twitter for a month now. Yesterday when I read some tweets, I was upset because they did not include the source of the information they were sharing. So within one month’s time I have begun to expect that tweets will point me somewhere, to a place where I can get more information.
I have also been thinking about emails. It is so annoying to me when people send out chain email -something they think will appeal to all-a story, video, or photo. They zap it out to everyone on their email list. It is like junk email. I have been thinking about digital manners. I don’t think this use of email is good manners. And yet it is very difficult to ask those people to stop doing this. It feels rude somehow.

However, Twitter would be an excellent way for those chain emailers to get their very important information passed on to others. People could follow the link or not according to their preferences. It wouldn’t feel like junk email. It would just be another tweet. Perhaps the next time I get some chain email, I will encourage that person to sign up to Tweet and send out info that way instead.
Ruth

I hope I’m wrong, but I’m afraid I’m right.

In any case, to see what laws of physics Twitter is up against, you should watch numbers pertaining to sustainability — that is, how many people will continue to use it month after month? If new people don’t sign up as fast as existing members’usage declines, Twitter will eventually “Peter” out. There is an article on blog-dot-nielsen-dot-com entitled “Twitter Quitters Post Roadblock to Long-Term Growth” that explains this concept.

Thanks for the post! It’s a very interesting perspective.

then metadata tag them

then do java clips of selected tags – cut’n'paste these clips onto a Sharepoint Wiki Web part – sharing with my fellow colleagues inside our firewall

it’s all too easy in this Post George W Bush GFC constrained world which has seen so many orgs’training budgets effectively nuked for a long time – with Twitter, Google Reader and Sharepoint I can stay current on key topics without costing $’s that my org doesn’t have
cheers
@KerrieAnne on Twitter

While I unconditionally agree with your points, I also believe that we’ve barely scratched the surface of uses to which Twitter can be put. Continuing conversation sparks innovation. (I also don’t mind talking about potential new uses of the telephone, although there will be far fewer of those.)

/shel

Nitpicking aside, perhaps you’re right in the sense that Twitter is probably ready to move out of early-adopter obsession mode (or should be forcefully shunted to the side). Unfortunately, Twitter the company and Twitter the pop culture topic tend to overshadow the fact this is a fairly simple tool that will (and should) become a commodity soon enough, much as the Apple iPhone has popularized mobile computing with a touch-based user interface but eventually iPod will just be one brand among others.

On the other hand, the social and psychological aspects of services like Twitter are still worth considering and talking about, because these things transcend Twitter the tool, Twitter the company, and Twitter the pop culture sensation of the quarter.

Thanks for a thought-provoking post.

I think your comments are insightful.

Twitter is at a crossroads right now as it decides what it wants to be when it grows up.

As such, it seems the focus is on getting bigger, making more $$, and not necessarily getting better.

To wit, one sure sign of growing pains is when a Twitter account gets inexplicably caught in the account temporarily suspended net.

I’ve been observing a growing number of disgruntled people saying that Twitter doesn’t respond or communicate with them to indicate why this may have happened.

In fact, it appears that going through the support ticket process is an exercise in futility as Twitter appears to rarely have a direct communication with their Twitterers who may not have broken any TOS, but for some reason get caught up in a ‘spam cloud.’
If Twitter as a tool, doesn’t recognize the importance of customer service and email follow up with customers having specific problems, than they will crash and burn. They need to tweak and refine their infrastructure so their product is responsive and trustworthy.

Communication channels require communication and it seems they’ve been lagging far behind on this issue.

I want my tools to be reliable. I want customers whom I refer to Twitter, to have their problems addressed and explanations and dialogue to ensue.

A tool needs to work. And when it breaks down, it needs to be immediately and directly addressed.

Let’s hope they pick up the ball before it’s too late.

You’ve hit the nail on the head when you say people need to ‘communicate’in person, rather than than be distracted by the medium itself. The focus shouldn’t be on the ‘Twitter’phenomena – it should be on how it opens up new channels of communication, allowing us to perform better.

What Twitter has initially achieved is to get people talking and engaging with each other again. This has been long overdue in the corporate world. I’m a UK copywriter and first-time blogger. ( Don’t hold that against me!) For me, Twitter has been useful in terms of talking to other like-minded people around the globe – and, it’s also been an amazing source of information.

I don’t get bogged down by how many followers I do or don’t have; I simply enjoy this platform for what it is and use it as another way to be in touch with people.

Thanks again, Aaron. I thoroughly enjoyed your post.

And this puts me in mind of when I resisted getting a cell phone when they first came out, and now I panic when I can’t find mine! LOL!

First time reader and I am thrilled I found you. Very, very well said. I, too, believe that Twitter (and FB, and LinkedIn, et. al.) are simply tools to get the job done. When using any new tool (think…hammer) for the first time, there is a ‘to be expected’learning curve that requires an investment of time, attention, and commitment to pull through, however isn’t the end goal for any to0l to make some job more efficient and effective? I agree with you that Twitter’s end game is to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of some portion of an individual’s or organization’s communication.

Thank you for putting this thought into such an eloquent post and stimulating us to focus on future thinking and uses of this powerful tool in our box.

Kelley
@kelleymoore

To me, Twitter had represented on opportunity for the non-Bill-Gateses of the world to have a hand in the evolution of technology and journalism. The common person had control over this new “social” medium. Anyone could be a reporter of the news in their local corner of the world for their circle of friends. True, it was fun and exciting when Shaq and MC Hammer first joined. But the more mainstream Twitter gets, the more I get the feeling we are about to lose something we might never get back. Should we welcome the removal of the “social” from social media?

Can I just ask, what prompted this declaration? Did Twitter hit some milestone? Or is this a realization on your part? Twitter has gone through numerous phases every 3 to 4 months as newcomers arrive and last season’s newbies become settled in as regulars.