Today there was a very interesting discussion session on the feed of happy father and prominent blogger Louis Gray also starring Robert Scoble. Is Twitter for following topics and listening or for following people? I think that neither is true.
Reason's 2 arguments and records of a heart in pain are as follows:
1. Intellectual frustration
When I started using the service I had 2 major motivations: the network and the 140-letter format. The audience was really cool and I could contact interesting people all over the world.
The ugly truth is that there are not so many people like Chomsky, Searle or Pinker, who would be able to fulfill a 140-letter message with infinite wisdom.
I was initially inspired with the short format but it turned into a hardly manageable lump of news and facts. Somebody else's choice is unpredictable – I manage data stream myself. That's it.
The fact that any man can do what another man has done was also pretty clear from the outset. I'm talking now about professional issues. Right, I touched the train of thought of Scoble and Kawasaki (although he is a spammer I have a newfound respect for Guy since he mentioned Kafka recently).
I'm subscribed to their blogs though. I still need thoughts – whoever it were. Instead I'm getting dumber here. Gray matter needs permanent work and frequent inspiration.
No to mention that further growth in the number of Twitter users dilutes its intellectual stock. And leads to the second point.
2. Personal degradation
Robert Scoble follows 70,500+ people. Have no idea how Robert manages his feed (and he says he does - see a nice video by Robert below), but I think he's been so passionate in evangelizing Twitter and maximization of the number of followers, that he just can't stop.
Personal and ironic tweets are my passion. I will not praise that purpose not to sell, but I don't think that the number in this line could exceed 30.
So what's the chase for numbers is about? Addiction. It is really addictive. My favorite Lord Stanhope in His Letters to Son wisely advised his offspring to stick to smart people – one has to evaluate himself against others. It boosts development of personal qualities in case people around you are smarter than you.
Now, all I want to say is that you may be confused by the number followers and relax with an illusion of importance. Don't claim to be a visionary, but that's why I didn't start on the chase. Today I was pleasantly surprised, when I saw comments of guys (in the abovementioned discussion thread) who don't tend to be champions of attention. One guy even deleted 23,500 people following him!
That's it. Of course I don't think that my arguments really worth abandoning Twitter. Just a reason to think it over.
If you're interested in Twitter and FriendFeed this video is highly recommended:
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