Blogging, tweeting, and the uncovering of personality

Will Richardson has yet another post that’s generated a great deal of discussion. This time it’s about the value of Twitter for conversation. Will ponders Twitter’s impact on conversations and suspects that maybe it’s making us lazy…

For me it’s about the conversation but, more importantly, it’s also about the uncovering of personality. The social web is about people and connectivity, right? So every blog, tweet, Skype chat, comment, Flickr photo, YouTube video, Facebook update, or Ning post - they’re each another gap-filler for me. Chink by chink, brick by brick, pixel by pixel - the picture becomes more clear and complete. Is this someone with whom I want to connect? Is this someone with whom I want to converse? Is this someone from whom I want to learn?

That’s the power of Twitter (and blogging and … ) for me. Is it maddeningly disjointed and unconnected? Absolutely. But that’s what happens when everyone has a voice and when there are numerous tools to express ourselves. Our aggregation and monitoring tools will get better in the years to come. In the meantime, I’m going to celebrate the power and potential of our new information landscape, despite all of its frustrating flaws and growing pains, because I know that it has greatly enriched my life and exponentially expanded my horizons (cue the violins)…

Photo credit: weblogg-ed.com

Comments

[Dean Shareski]

1.

Well said. That's what twitter represents most for me; allowing expression, fun, silliness, in a fairly safe and fair environment. No one expects much out of 140 characters and everyone has the same capacity.

If you're looking for more than that, start a blog, podcast or video channel. Twitter is more about people than ideas.

[Ann Oro]

2.

I think this is my first time commenting here. I've been enjoying your posts. I like your take on Will Richardson's post.

I have been using many different tools for a while now and each one gives me another view of the people I am communicating with. As I "run into" the same people via a different social websites, I learn a little more about them. In this way, I am finding who I enjoy learning from and who I enjoy collaborating with using various tools online.

It's all about learning and sharing, for me, no matter where it happens.

[Sue Waters]

3.

The most important aspect of blogging is the conversation and yet not all bloggers appreciate, realise or perhaps choose to engage in that conversation. Twitter is no different from blogging except that its a far more powerful conversation tool when used effectively.

Understandably twitter isn't for everyone. Reality is each of us uses twitter differently, and like blogging, some just aren't into the conversation aspect. However to achieve the true power of twitter you do need to spend the time working out how to use it effectively.

PS as a lover of statistics I suggest you check a twitter's Following, Followers, Updates and number of @ replies -- tells you a lot about where a person is in their twitter journey.

[Blair Peterson]

4.

I had the pleasure to hear Scott Klososky speak at the laptop institute this week and he has two ideas related to this.
1. his son says that twitter is "efficient" because when he sees the person in person they don't have to waste time asking each other "what have you been doing?"
2. In the near future we will be up front in telling people which tool to use to communicate with us for which purpose. We may tell them that calls to the cellphone are for emergencies or time sensitive communication, e-mails are for just about everything, facebook is for fun, etc.
This will help make some sense of the various tools and make communication more efficient.
http://www.klososky.com/Home/tabid/36/Default.aspx

[audrey]

5.

That all sounds good, but you use up a lot of your time filtering content that way. I don't think that's a good use of my time, although I do spend a lot of time "filtering" too.

This week I have an elderly mother who has fallen again. a new puppy that needs my time and training. A 12 year old car that is dying. a few doctors appointments I haven't made. A neice who needs to know me. A few blogs I like to read. Two blogs I'd like to update but don't. An animation I'd like to create. A few friends I'd like to spend time with. An apartment I'd like to clean. A hundred books I plan to read. A class I'd like to take. A body I'd like to exercise.... you get my point.

Everything CAN NOT be fit in. Something has to give and I have the right and the obligation to decide which things will give. The people who make time for every blog, every youtube video, every twitter are taking time from other things.. which is fine.. great even, if it enriches their lives, and they don't mind the trade off.
Personally, I'm trying to put technology in a balanced place in my life... so that I have more life offline than on.

I love to read good blogs, see great videos.. meet interesting people (and have them ignore me :P ) But now I need to pick and choose and be mindful that every choice IS a choice to use the precious time I have on the planet. Even the act of responding to this blog is questionable. The pool awaits. My husband has come in twice to see what I'm up to. I haven't made lunch. My dog wants to go to the river. My mother needs me to figure out what to do next.

[Marshall]

6.

Audrey - just didn't want to ignore you, and your comment is founded deeply in that old, oft-forgotten virtue of common sense. We want to do it all, but we can't, so each of us finds what is most key in our lives and pursues those as much as possible in relation to everything else. It's called prioritization, and when we look back and have our priorities in the wrong order, we give it another common sense name - oops!

[Audrey]

7.

I'm feeling a lot less ignored. Thank you. And OOPS! is my middle name

[Tina K.]

8.

I use blogs for information, resources, good ideas, and just brain exercise. I read and respond to blogs late at night because that is the time it works for me with my busy schedule. I will not sit at the computer when I have family activities. Family, friends, and experiencing the world around me are my priorities. Yes I can do this through my computer ,I know ,but face to face is best for me first.

[pavel]

9.

I like the idea you raise that Twitter posts are much like individual pixels that make up the whole of the image...they begin the conversation. The very collaborative nature of the Twitter forum marks tweets as individual voices in a larger conversation or co-created narrative. I think there are few applications that enable such (textual) granular and mobile sharing of ideas...a qualitative distillation of a Twitter stream archive might be an interesting project to highlight the layering of meaning over a long series of posts...

[Ewan McIntosh]

10.

I'm seeing your points in my own habits, but also worry that if anyone came across my Twitter messages they might want to run away from me. It's funny how my communication there is of a very different ilk from that on my blog. Because it's so quick to do I tend to say things on my mind, meaning that the reasoning behind what I Tweet (which often ends up in a F2F tirade with whoever's around me) gets lost on those being purely virtual.