Every time I venture to the Bay Area, I get whiplashed by technology.
The effect was magnified last week by attending David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” summit in San Francisco. It attracted more than its share of geeks with ambitions of using David’s marvelous techniques to get even more things done in their technology-leveraged lives.
Twitter was the talk of the town. My fellow panelists used it as the latest example of digital dementia, threatening to suck any remaining time we might have left into typing haiku-like messages of 140 characters or less, all to answer the seemingly innocuous question, “What are you doing right now?”
Even David Allen was tweeting. A monitor in the hall rolled all the tweets onto the screen, the little bubbles of information converging and bringing us news of what we were doing right then.
James Fallows, the Atlantic Monthly journalist, author, and a most tech-savvy guy, announced he would not be Twittering. With Fallows in the lead, I was going to resist the peer pressure to tweet.
But then other friends prevailed upon me to try it out.
One is globetrotting forecaster Paul Saffo, one of the plenary panelists along with Fallows and Guy Kawasaki. It would be hard to find a fellow more in love with pens, paper and functional leather goods than Paul Saffo. His journals are works of art (as you can see). Yet Paul is on Twitter.
“Twitter is digital haiku,” he says. “It forces logorrheic scribblers to be brief. The result is often unintentionally elegant, but even when it isn't, at least I don't have to wade through an email run-on.”
Leo Laporte, who happens to be one of America’s leading tech reviewers (aka The Tech Guy), told me Twitter might be the next killer app. A few CEOs are using it quite effectively to make closer connections with their customers.
“Ten years ago, Christopher Locke, Rick Levine, Doc Searls and David Weinberger in their book, The Cluetrain Manifesto, made the then-surprising assertion that ‘markets are conversations,’” Leo says. “They theorized that the new, Internet-empowered consumer would demand that companies become open, transparent and accessible: speak with a human voice. Twitter is one of several social media tools a business can use to open a conversation with its customers, to ‘speak with a human voice.’"
A third friend recommending Twitter is bestselling novelist Joe Finder. Joe wasn’t at the conference but on a flight to Barcelona—Twittering all the way. Here’s how this prolific novelist explains his tumble into Twitter:
“My editor and my assistant both tried to stop me, but it was too late. I’m a gadget guy, and I love new technology. Two weeks into this, I’d already developed a following (everybody develops their own following; it’s not like I’ve gone all Hollywood), and my followers post all kinds of fascinating stuff. I think we’re witnessing the birth of an entirely new type of communication—halfway in between private and public.”
So I signed up on Twitter.com with this hope: that engaging in this new technology will allow me to develop relationships with more of you.
If you’re already on Twitter, look me up here, SteveLeveen (no space between the first and last name). Levenger also has its own Twitter, which I invite you to follow as well.
With your help, we’ll learn how best to use this technology to help our customers.
If you’re not on Twitter and want to take the leap, it’s easy and free. Try it out and let me know what you think—with a tweet. Or let me hear from you here. Just click on the Comments link below. (If you’re reading this as an email, click here and you’ll connect to Comments.)
Worst case, we’ll be reading and writing short little sentences. To paraphrase Lincoln, “A short tweet can’t be all bad.”
(His original quotation: “A short speech can’t be all bad.”)
Love these comments from a certifiable traditionalist ... a strong proponent of traditional individualist pursuits and refined accoutrements - inks, fountain pens, memoirs of history's great characters and moments, reading, writing, a love for quality paper notes, notetaking and of course, an appreciation for the written word and human expression!
YES!! Twitter is building a groundswell of unlikely enthusiasts who are legitimizing this form of "conversation." It is like electronic crabgrass....sprouting up everywhere! Tweet. Tweet.
Posted by: MB | March 24, 2009 at 02:18 PM
This is interesting. I expected you to say that you weren't on Twitter, but there you are! I don't do Twitter yet, but as a novelist, I suppose I should! I spend so much time blogging that most of my "tweets" would just say "blogging again" - that's pretty boring.
So glad to hear you're having fun with it though! Excuse me while I go shop for more Levenger products. *sigh*
Posted by: Lady Glamis | March 24, 2009 at 03:48 PM
On a scale of one to three, how important is "twitter"?
Posted by: Robert Ferguson | March 24, 2009 at 10:08 PM
Twittering raises greater numbers of people to unmatched levels of superficiality. Life is not haiku or, digital.
Posted by: Bradley East | March 25, 2009 at 02:42 AM
When I describe Twitter to people, I liken it to a CB radio, with a scanner that you can tune in to various channels. I think my favorite part about twitter is the 140 character limitation, which forces people to be concise about what they say. If you have more to say, just tweet a link to a blog post. I love it.
Posted by: Bruce Garlock | March 25, 2009 at 06:24 AM
There must be a mental condition attached with constant web usage. If you haven't seen it, yoono.com is a great Firefox add-on that lets you see all your facebook, twitter, and IM activity in one window. It even hooks up to your email and RSS feeds. With it and my wallet writer dock-it, I hopefully won't miss or forget anything. However, neither feeds the cat and until that happens I won't be truly satisfied.
Posted by: Cyndi | March 25, 2009 at 11:14 AM
Twitter is the busy person's answer. I didn't know I was asking the question "How can I express an opinion in a minute, and hear back from my community?" Besides, I can get snippets of information from Leo (LaPorte), David (Pogue), Steve (Leveen!), and others, and get back to my busy day.
I've loved and used Levenger forever (introduced it to Wichita, KS singlehandedly in 1999 when I moved here from CO.) Bomber Jacket is not just for men, by the way, my BJ duffle carries my photography equipment. I'll be happy to follow Steve and Levenger on Twitter.
Posted by: Lyn Koster | March 25, 2009 at 11:23 AM
Confused, confounded. When did twit-bites supercede the experience of thoughtfully savoring life's complexity?
Posted by: Susie Kuranishi | March 29, 2009 at 03:36 PM
I recently purchased a product for a project I've managed and wrote about it on my BLOG...also sent a tweat out about it. Within minutes, I heard back from the VP of marketing...Sonos...whole house audio. I follow Sonos and get about 4-5 tweats a day with useful info like links to good music.
For tweats you are really interedt in...forward them to your handheld as an SMS text. Lot going on here and worth the time experimenting.....@davidpray.
Posted by: David Pray | March 29, 2009 at 05:37 PM
This is all just a tad bit dizzying. The twit, tweet, tweeter part, I mean. Not to mention all the windows open at the same time. Yikes. Makes me want to run to a meditation room.
I'll bet our brains are evolving right now, as we speak, to cope with all this.
Posted by: Suzanne | April 01, 2009 at 08:24 PM
Twitter is a value added tool. It doesn't replace anything else. It isn't like anything else. It is the closest social media tool to regular conversation than anything out there. We can be silly and profound within a matter of seconds of one another. Of all the social media platforms, it alone requires the most discipline to get something out of it. It can easily be trivial or profound, and virtually in the same breadth. And if you follow a lot of people, it is easy to see it as a huge waste of time.
I like Twitter a lot. I've met some fascinating people and learned some really interesting information. I highly recommend it.
Posted by: Ed Brenegar | May 05, 2009 at 10:24 PM
was looking through your blog & found this post...i signed up for twitter a few months ago & have never activated it. (do i really want to hear all those tweets?) lol! anyway - wanted to tell you, while we're on the subject of tech - your new (sm) Book Traveler will fit a Kindle2 - which i have. thought you'd like to know!
Posted by: Nancy Pugh | May 25, 2009 at 11:49 AM
a year from now, nobody will be on twitter. it's completely hyped over the top. nada to it.
Posted by: danny bloom | July 28, 2009 at 01:06 PM