I used to describe twitter to non-users as “Facebook status, but just that and nothing else”. But that description is not that good and doesn’t impart the real value of Twitter.
Twitter is much more than just status, as it seems to connect people emotionally. I know much more about friends of mine on Twitter than friends on Facebook. Or in real life for that matter. I know who’s having a shitty day and who’s not. Who’s in a playful mood and who’s drinking and who’s working. I don’t know who’s getting laid, but give it time.
My real life friends I have no idea what’s going on with them at all. Unless they/we call or email and everyone is too busy to do that, so I only find out when I see them, when we have plans. Which these days (wedding, beddings (kids) and buidlings (house moves)) is greatly reduced.
On the other hand shooting a few 140 character updates doesn’t take time out of the day, and once you start using twitter actually enhances the day. It enhances it because of the interaction between twitters.
It’s just this tiny little thread that shifts it from being a flat medium like facebook status to a social medium. It’s that difference that connects you to people rather than positions you as mere observer. And whilst the observation thread is nice, by itself it starts to die as it isn’t self sustaining. Where as the observation with interactivity grows and gets stronger. |t means I become a participant in my friends lives occasionally even if that participation is just Stuart getting coffee
I guess Twitter is more a small version of Facebook wall than a version of Facebook status. Of course where it really kicks Facebooks arse is where Facebook is trying to be a walled garden (come to our site come to our site come to our site) Twitter is just a node to be accessed.
I can consume and publish via the web, via IM, via text, via applications (I ♥ Twitterific), via via via via via. Which means it’s both very easy to publish, to observe and to interact with my friends on Twitter. And because it’s non time consuming (I can wack out 140 chars in a few seconds) and I can use it anywhere and any time it’s a running constant in my life.
Compare that to Facebook, which only offers an RSS feed. So when someone has something about me in their Facebook status don’t even see it. Plus because twitter has no other shit it does I only follow people I want to. Where Facebook is kinda of a storage system for people I know, people I sort of know and people who I want to sleep with.
I know lots of people bored with Facebook. Twitter on the other hand is part of my daily life.
I just wish more real friends would use it. As it really does connect people (especially busy people) socially and emotively.
1. snowgoon.myopenid.com
Funny, I’ve not really given much thought as to why I use Twitter, but I think you’ve nailed it.
The fact that I get a tiny glimpse into the daily life of my ‘friends’ (like you, online friends mainly) is where the subtle value lies. There have been occasions of hearing about gigs, and whatnot but the bulk of the interactions are casual and, viewed separately, meaningless.
Yet taken as a whole they help re-enforce that emotional connection that we struggle to find online.
2. The Girl
I agree with Snowgoon: you’ve totally nailed it. Like you said, Twitter “connects you to people rather than positions you as mere observer” - I couldn’t agree more.
3. Marc
Nope, still not buying.
4. Matt
Anyone who updates their Facebook status more than twice a week is better off using Twitter.
I’m also now very confused as to whether I’m a Twitter friend, and Facebook friend, or one of those “real-life” ones. Or all three.
5. Jack Pandemian
I don’t know. Someone really does have to be extraordinarily or obsessively interesting, be doing something of particular note or have a truly marvellous turn of phrase for me to be interested in the minutiae of their lives in that way.
The majority of us lesser beings are not and have not; most of it is just noise, the kind that if it was happening from a gaggle of school kids at the back of the bus rather than online I would be forced to run screaming from at the next stop.
Warren Ellis’ twitterings, however, I would liked RSS’d directly into my brain.
6. Adrian
Chopper: You don’t have to buy or use it, and admittedly the value is greatly reduced when you have no friends on Twitter, but you can’t deny the value if you haven’t used it.
Jack: I’m interested in being connected to my friends. Twitter helps with that. You may have different relationships with your friends, or may see them more often or they may be less busy or less remote than mine. I don’t care about the minutiae of peoples lives who I don’t know about. I do about those I do.
Matt: You’re a RL friend, then online friend.
7. Jack Pandemian
Yes, I know. That’s why I didn’t add “….and you should feel exactly like I do too.”
8. Marc
The thing is I use FB to manage my social life. I rarely use my status to say what I am actually doing but rather as a way of venting my state of mind in an abstract way, as you well know. All in all I use the FB status, quite often, as an outlet rather than a communication tool.
9. Marc
And in agreement with Jack. Each to his own.
10. Adrian
Which confirms my point. FB status positions me as an observer not a participant. And in your case more like an observer in an art gallery looking at a weird painting wondering what the fuck the artist was on.
As a passive observer your status communicates nothing to me, and hence my interest is reduced. Venting your state of mind is all good and well, but it makes no difference if you write it on Facebook status or a post-it note that you eat. It has no social connections either way.
To each his own is a fallacious point. You can use an iPhone as a paper weight, but that doesn’t mistake the fake it’s far more useful as an internet device. Or I guess a better analogy would be that you can use an iPhone as just a phone, but it would kinda of be a waste.
11. cian
for me twitter is a mash up of facebook status, wall, and mini-feed plus email, IM and RSS. Using Twirl and the url/picture upload it somewhat covers delicious sharing and flickr.
It is so infrastructury can someone with lots of servers and RAIL skillz sort them out to power the whole internet going forward?
12. Danzor
To me it’s about value added. I can point to several concrete examples where I’ve attended events that I would not have known about or attended if Facebook hadn’t informed me of them and then reminded me that they were on. I can point to several people that I know better thanks to Facebook. It’s been very useful as a tool for acclimating to a new city where I haven’t known many people.
Twitter, on the other hand, I basically think of as ‘That text feed Adrian uses to bitch about his day.’ It has no practical value (it’s never say, informed me of a gig that wasn’t happening right that second) Facebook status does basically the same thing (in fact, since your twitters port to facebook, it does exactly the same thing), but also has the event notification and the scrabble. It’s a poor tradeoff to lose those things to uh, hell, I’m not even sure WHAT advantage twitter has over facebook. It mainly strikes me as random, meaningless ephemera- a curiosity, but no value added.
13. Adrian
Actually I have several occasions where Twitter has alerted me to new news or an event going on.
But I don’t disagree, Facebook has more tools that are useful. Facebook also has more chaff that isn’t.
The value add, is as I thought I said pretty well in my post is that it connects me to my friends. In ways I don’t feel Facebook really achieves as well.
14. Danzor
Nah, it’s shit.
15. Adrian
What I was saying, only said better