Twitter

Sometimes it's hard to explain why I find so much value in Twitter. Most people who don't participate (and some who do) think it's nothing but short messages about pointless things, like what you're eating for lunch or the exact task you're working on at that second. It isn't, and David Carr, in the 1/1/10 New York Times, explains it really well. A few highlights:

By carefully curating the people you follow, Twitter becomes an always-on data stream from really bright people in their respective fields, whose tweets are often full of links to incredibly vital, timely information.

The service has obvious utility for a journalist, but no matter what business you are in, imagine knowing what the thought leaders in your industry were reading and considering.

Nearly a year in, I’ve come to understand that the real value of the service is listening to a wired collective voice.

At first, Twitter can be overwhelming, but think of it as a river of data rushing past that I dip a cup into every once in a while.

The best people on Twitter communicate with economy and precision, with each element — links, hash tags and comments — freighted with meaning. Professional acquaintances whom I find insufferable on every other platform suddenly become interesting within the confines of Twitter.

Twitter helps define what is important by what Mr. Shirky has called “algorithmic authority,” meaning that if all kinds of people are pointing at the same thing at the same instant, it must be a pretty big deal.

There was some news event a few months back (I think it was the helicopter and small plane colliding over the Hudson River) that I read about on Twitter and I naively assumed that it had happened the day before, maybe, or at least a few hours earlier. In reality I had heard about it within minutes of it happening. That's the whole atmosphere of Twitter. It's immediate, and it's fast.

You understand, this is completely separate and distinct from the value of Facebook, which I've heard described quite accurately as 'talking to the neighbors over the back fence.' (Or—a little Facebook reference here—hearing about how the neighbors played Farmville or Mafia Wars, and refusing—over and over and over—invitations to join them.)

And just from the perspective of posting my own Tweets, Twitter does very good things for me. As Carr points out, every word has to do a lot. It forces me to keep copy tight, no empty rhetoric, no fluff. 140 characters to get the idea across, and that's it. It also helps keep ideas tight. Pick your slant and get it out there, no hedging, no waffling. And that's a good thing, too.

So a big 'thank you' to David Carr and the NY Times. Your article will help explain to Twitter muggles why I keep checking my phone.