27 Feb
2008
I admit I wasn't the first on this train, but gradually the power of Twitter is winning me over. I am slowly exploring this space and I hope people who find my blog interesting and Twitter themselves
follow me. I will follow you back.
Here is my quick and dirty pitch for Twitter:
- The art of influence is becoming less about messages and more about discussions.
- That means essays were replaced by memo's which were replaced by emails. which were replaced by instant messaging and so on.
- The ease of which the internet enables communication has made competition between networks of businesses as opposed to businesses.
- It is no longer GM against Toyota. It is GM and its supplier/research network against Toyota's network.
- Companies that work most effectively with these networks will gain a competitive advantage in this new world.
- Twitter enables a mass conversation with your network (or your customers) better than any other technology.
That last point is the bottom line.
Why did I start Twittering. I started blogging to share my point of view and hopefully influence people. My initial thoughts were that some issue would occur, everyone would blog, comment on others' blogs, and hopefully through that discussion some consensus would be reached. What I discovered was that with Twitter in play, the influencing was done well before anyone blogged. The discussion occurred on Twitter. It clarified peoples' thoughts. Then, they blogged their opinion.
It makes complete sense. In a way, a blog post is a short essay or memo. In the hierarchy of communication, it is meant to convey a well thought out position. It makes less sense to use the blog to post stream of conscious thoughts on an issue with the goal of clarifying later because you are posting it in a format that implies a thoughtful argument or point of view. Twitter is perfect for stream of conscious discussions to clarify your thoughts. And what better place to clarify your thoughts than in a global discussion with your network!
My recommendation is
register. Review how other people use the tool. Slowly grow your user base and experiment with different types of communications. I am willing to bet if you give it a fair chance, it will not disappoint you.
