Using & Teaching Educational Technology
Twitter: an evaluation
By Terry Freedman
Fri, 24 Aug 2007, 00:24

Introduction

But as more and people I respect started singing its praises, I thought I ought to give it a whirl.

That was a couple of months ago, and here are my conclusions.

Am I alone in having doubts about Twitter?

I've already written about the management issues, as I see them, of using Twitter in a classroom or as part of a presentation or workshop, so this article will concern itself with Twitter from an individual's point of view.

What isTwitter?

In case you have forgotten, or didn’t know, Twitter is a sort of cross between a rudimentary social networking environment and instant messaging. The idea is that you let people know what you are doing, and are limited to 140 characters per post. People can follow you, and you can follow other people. In this context, “follow” means the same as “friend” in other social networking environments.

Good points

• Several people have said that they have found it very useful to get helpful information. For example, I posted a “tweet” a few days ago in which I asked if anyone knew of some good Web 2.0 humour on the web, and within 5 minutes I had two or three good leads.
  
  
• It’s fun.
  
  
• It’s a good way of making a quick announcement. For example, some people, myself included, sometimes use it to draw attention to their latest blog post.
  
  
• Being limited to just 140 characters really focuses the attention. It’s not that no word can be wasted — no character can be wasted.
  
  
• It provides the feeling (the illusion?) of being “connected”. At least, it helps you keep in touch with people.

Bad points

• Although it’s true that you can get answers and help pretty quickly, Twitter is actually severely limited in this regard. For a start, your message will only be picked up by the people in your network, ie the people who are following you. So if you’ve only got a handful of followers, your potential response rate is going to be fairly limited.
  
  In fact, it’s actually worse than this, because the message will only be picked up by people who are online at the time. Well, in theory someone could trawl through all the posts since they last logged in, but that’s a bit hit and miss. By the same token, someone may respond, but unless you’re online at the time you may well miss their answer.
  
  But there’s another point: people often think in absolutes, rather than in marginal terms. It’s not a question of whether Twitter is good for helping you get assistance, but whether the same effort would be better applied elsewhere, such as in a forum. Depending on the nature of the issue at hand, you may well find that a forum (yes, very Web 1.0–ish I know) is actually far better.
  
  For example, I love using Excel, but every so often I come up against a problem I can’t work out. There are some excellent Excel newsgroups (yes, not even Web 1.0, I know!). I can post my problem there and know it will be visible to people even in a few hours’ time. Also, because by definition these newsgroups are frequented by people who have an interest in Excel, some of whom are (often certificated) experts, it’s unlikely that my request will go completely unanswered. In fact, I have often found that I get two or three brilliant suggestions within minutes or, in a worst case scenario, by the next morning.
  
  
• It can be fun, and it can be addictive too. However, I can think of quite a few things that  can be fun as well, but that doesn't mean they're good for you. I do find the sort of breathless enthusiasm for everything a little worrying if it appears to be unaccompanied by much critical thinking.
  
  One of the problems I find these days is that are so many of these sorts of networks that I can spend hours of an evening doing nothing except have conversations. And guess what? For the most part, they’re the same people in all of these networks at the same time! So I can be chatting to someone in Skype and notice that they have responded to a “tweet” I posted — within Twitter. But they could have told me in Skype instead!
  
  So to some extent it’s networking not to achieve something, but simply for the sake of networking. If you want to see the absurdity of all this, imagine that instead of being in Skype and Twitter talking to the same person, you are in the same room with them and also on the phone to them. Does that make any sense? Of course not!
  
  Getting back to the point about time-wasting, I think if you’re going to waste time you should do so in a way that is not pointless. As Suzuki, the Zen master put it:
  
  “A Zen student must learn to waste time conscientiously.”

Conclusions

The good points about Twitter are such that I would not say don’t try it, or don’t use it. But I do think that, as one’s time is such a valuable resource, one should adopt certain measures, as follows:

• Don’t allow anyone to follow you (you can block people), and don’t follow everyone who wants to follow you. Otherwise, you can end up wasting a lot of time reading tweets from people who are not really that interested in you.
  
  
• Consider whether, in a particular instance, Twitter actually is the best place to post your comment or query.
  
  
• Learn self-discipline. I now set aside time to have Twitter on, be available on Skype, check my emails, and so on. I have found that being connected continuously is too distracting.

And what am I going to do now? Announce this article in Twitter, of course!

© Terry Freedman Fri, 24 Aug 2007