Twitter: What is it Good For?

by Art Fag City on December 15, 2008 · 16 comments Events

twitter_logo_s.jpg

Twitter asks its users to sending out 140 character word updates on what their doing or thinking about, a form of expression I’m still on the fence about despite my own considerable time investment on the site.   My own account is a mix of updates from fairs and museums I’m visiting, art quotes I find meaningful, as well as basic travel notes ranging from “Subway smelled like puke” and more personal accounts about losing my luggage or getting stuck in airports.  Overall, the form encourages the equivalent of a thought burp, and either drives or competes with blog traffic (as far as I can tell it does both) so the network’s benefits certainly seem mixed at best.

Given the number of statements I’ve made on Twitter that aren’t meant for reblogging — at least two were written while I was intoxicated enough that my phone should have been confiscated —  there doesn’t seem to be much point in discussing tweets as though they are statements thought out in the same way as material published on a blog.   The medium is a little closer to broadcast, in the sense that it is more about generating discussion than it is coming up with authoritative statements.   For example, last week art critic and blogger Tyler Green asked why the New York Times considered the naming of the Whitney Biennial curators news, a thought I doubt he’d publish on his blog given the amount of email he’d receive on the subject (even if the relevance of the Biennial is waining, it is clearly a story that significantly effects the careers of 80 some artists — I met countless reporters from national publications across the country during the press preview this year)   But Modern Art Notes doesn’t have comments enabled, and Twitter offers a means of generating useful discussion without the burdon of comment moderation.

For my own purposes though, I’d rather just host the conversation on my blog, and reblog the occassional tweet I see generated: There’s a limit to how much discussion I can engage on a daily basis, even if Twitter does a fairly good job at slowing that rate of exchange down.  Most recently said relevant tweet came from Heather Rasley who quoted a friend on the subject of Twitter, “If I’m going to be addicted to something on the internet” he said, “i’d rather it be pornography like a normal person.” 

Yeah, well, me too, but like most professionals, I juggle several Internet addictions at once. 

{ 16 comments }

Heather R. December 15, 2008 at 4:09 pm

Oh what a time to be linking to my stream.

That conversation began from on observation that there’s a similarity between Twitter and LiveJournal: somehow, both compel you to write in a form that is embarrassing in retrospect.

The character limit is a nice constraint. I’ve seen a few writing sites recommend it as a way to discover your paper’s thesis statement.

But there’s something about the overall quality of updates in the community, and the excited responses that even the most mundane updates generate, that encourages a level of language and conversation below what I would use on my blog. To me, my blog is more of a “public face” than Twitter, which now largely serves as a monologue to an imagined audience of five people, while the other 300-something suffer in silence.

Tyler Green likely wouldn’t have written “ridonkulously silly” in many contexts other than Twitter. And that’s great. We need a space where we have the freedom to speak that way, without the anxiety of identity that an established blog can sometimes induce.

I’ve considered Twittercide once or twice, but I stick around because I appreciate the flexibility it provides and the feedback it generates.

The level of engagement on blogs is decreasing. It’s now more likely that you’ll receive feedback through Twitter than through your blog — though some services like Intense Debate and Disqus are working to change that. (Disclosure: I work for Automattic, which recently acquired Intense Debate.)

If the price for eliciting that interaction is short-term embarrassment because I updated the world about the effect of Mint Milanos on the circumference of my ass, so be it.

Heather R. December 15, 2008 at 11:09 am

Oh what a time to be linking to my stream.

That conversation began from on observation that there’s a similarity between Twitter and LiveJournal: somehow, both compel you to write in a form that is embarrassing in retrospect.

The character limit is a nice constraint. I’ve seen a few writing sites recommend it as a way to discover your paper’s thesis statement.

But there’s something about the overall quality of updates in the community, and the excited responses that even the most mundane updates generate, that encourages a level of language and conversation below what I would use on my blog. To me, my blog is more of a “public face” than Twitter, which now largely serves as a monologue to an imagined audience of five people, while the other 300-something suffer in silence.

Tyler Green likely wouldn’t have written “ridonkulously silly” in many contexts other than Twitter. And that’s great. We need a space where we have the freedom to speak that way, without the anxiety of identity that an established blog can sometimes induce.

I’ve considered Twittercide once or twice, but I stick around because I appreciate the flexibility it provides and the feedback it generates.

The level of engagement on blogs is decreasing. It’s now more likely that you’ll receive feedback through Twitter than through your blog — though some services like Intense Debate and Disqus are working to change that. (Disclosure: I work for Automattic, which recently acquired Intense Debate.)

If the price for eliciting that interaction is short-term embarrassment because I updated the world about the effect of Mint Milanos on the circumference of my ass, so be it.

Art Fag City December 15, 2008 at 4:24 pm

I think it’s pretty unlikely that comments like “Ridonkulously silly” will be able to be maintained long term. The more followers you have the less likely you are to make those kinds of statements even if you think them.

I would say it’s more likely you’ll receive a certain kind of feedback via twitter as opposed to engagement as a whole: a short pithy statement as opposed the longer comments you get on a blog. To be honest, I get more feedback from facebook though (twitter updates my status) than I do via twitter.

In any event, each feedback form serves it’s own purpose. Overall I think you’re right to point out that people are more engaging more with twitter now and that is having an effect on blogs. As someone who benefits financially from ads from time to time, I find this a bit frustrating because there’s no way for me to recoup the investment I put into twitter whereas at least I have the ability to place ads on my blog. I suppose if I were making a bit more money I wouldn’t be bothered by this as much, but an unfortunate reality of being an internet professional is that I have to consider how to monetize at least some of my time.

Art Fag City December 15, 2008 at 4:24 pm

I think it’s pretty unlikely that comments like “Ridonkulously silly” will be able to be maintained long term. The more followers you have the less likely you are to make those kinds of statements even if you think them.

I would say it’s more likely you’ll receive a certain kind of feedback via twitter as opposed to engagement as a whole: a short pithy statement as opposed the longer comments you get on a blog. To be honest, I get more feedback from facebook though (twitter updates my status) than I do via twitter.

In any event, each feedback form serves it’s own purpose. Overall I think you’re right to point out that people are more engaging more with twitter now and that is having an effect on blogs. As someone who benefits financially from ads from time to time, I find this a bit frustrating because there’s no way for me to recoup the investment I put into twitter whereas at least I have the ability to place ads on my blog. I suppose if I were making a bit more money I wouldn’t be bothered by this as much, but an unfortunate reality of being an internet professional is that I have to consider how to monetize at least some of my time.

Art Fag City December 15, 2008 at 11:24 am

I think it’s pretty unlikely that comments like “Ridonkulously silly” will be able to be maintained long term. The more followers you have the less likely you are to make those kinds of statements even if you think them.

I would say it’s more likely you’ll receive a certain kind of feedback via twitter as opposed to engagement as a whole: a short pithy statement as opposed the longer comments you get on a blog. To be honest, I get more feedback from facebook though (twitter updates my status) than I do via twitter.

In any event, each feedback form serves it’s own purpose. Overall I think you’re right to point out that people are more engaging more with twitter now and that is having an effect on blogs. As someone who benefits financially from ads from time to time, I find this a bit frustrating because there’s no way for me to recoup the investment I put into twitter whereas at least I have the ability to place ads on my blog. I suppose if I were making a bit more money I wouldn’t be bothered by this as much, but an unfortunate reality of being an internet professional is that I have to consider how to monetize at least some of my time.

Sharon December 15, 2008 at 8:48 pm

Paddy,
I feel ambivalent about Twitter, too. Following museums results in 140-character non-stop incoming press releases. Or they tweet events (ie Getty Museum’s non-stop Robert Irwin tweet-fest yesterday. Oy. Get a blog!) What’s the point of impersonal corporate tweets? Twitter is good for mobile and one-line blog updates, or emergency notifications (thanks Joy for pointing this out) but overall it’s dumbing down the discourse. Facebook is a better choice for keeping your friends in the loop.
–Sharon

Sharon December 15, 2008 at 8:48 pm

Paddy,
I feel ambivalent about Twitter, too. Following museums results in 140-character non-stop incoming press releases. Or they tweet events (ie Getty Museum’s non-stop Robert Irwin tweet-fest yesterday. Oy. Get a blog!) What’s the point of impersonal corporate tweets? Twitter is good for mobile and one-line blog updates, or emergency notifications (thanks Joy for pointing this out) but overall it’s dumbing down the discourse. Facebook is a better choice for keeping your friends in the loop.
–Sharon

Sharon December 15, 2008 at 3:48 pm

Paddy,
I feel ambivalent about Twitter, too. Following museums results in 140-character non-stop incoming press releases. Or they tweet events (ie Getty Museum’s non-stop Robert Irwin tweet-fest yesterday. Oy. Get a blog!) What’s the point of impersonal corporate tweets? Twitter is good for mobile and one-line blog updates, or emergency notifications (thanks Joy for pointing this out) but overall it’s dumbing down the discourse. Facebook is a better choice for keeping your friends in the loop.
–Sharon

Brian Sherwin @ Myartspace Blo December 15, 2008 at 10:50 pm

I have not signed up for Twitter. Facebook hates me. 🙂 I’ve come to the conclusion that Facebook is not the best site for social networking because they tend to wave the ban hammer if they confuse you for a bot.

Brian Sherwin @ Myartspace Blo December 15, 2008 at 10:50 pm

I have not signed up for Twitter. Facebook hates me. 🙂 I’ve come to the conclusion that Facebook is not the best site for social networking because they tend to wave the ban hammer if they confuse you for a bot.

Brian Sherwin @ Myartspace Blog December 15, 2008 at 5:50 pm

I have not signed up for Twitter. Facebook hates me. 🙂 I’ve come to the conclusion that Facebook is not the best site for social networking because they tend to wave the ban hammer if they confuse you for a bot.

Art Fag City December 16, 2008 at 11:53 am

I think part of the allure of twitter is that at least for now, it does encourage some mixing of the personal and the professional. Emily Gould wrote about how Jessica Cohen noted the minute she posted anything remotely personal on Gawker people clung to it. I wonder whether this kind of interest is indicative of readers who desperate for distraction, or if its merely a cultural trend bloggers exploit as a strategy to engage readers.

Art Fag City December 16, 2008 at 11:53 am

I think part of the allure of twitter is that at least for now, it does encourage some mixing of the personal and the professional. Emily Gould wrote about how Jessica Cohen noted the minute she posted anything remotely personal on Gawker people clung to it. I wonder whether this kind of interest is indicative of readers who desperate for distraction, or if its merely a cultural trend bloggers exploit as a strategy to engage readers.

Art Fag City December 16, 2008 at 6:53 am

I think part of the allure of twitter is that at least for now, it does encourage some mixing of the personal and the professional. Emily Gould wrote about how Jessica Cohen noted the minute she posted anything remotely personal on Gawker people clung to it. I wonder whether this kind of interest is indicative of readers who desperate for distraction, or if its merely a cultural trend bloggers exploit as a strategy to engage readers.

David December 18, 2008 at 2:43 pm

I’ve never been able to commit to a full blog, seems like a real job. But Twitter is so wonderfully easy — even on my phone, that I’ve taken to it. I also love the 140 character limit. Inspires poetic brevity, or at least brevity.

David December 18, 2008 at 9:43 am

I’ve never been able to commit to a full blog, seems like a real job. But Twitter is so wonderfully easy — even on my phone, that I’ve taken to it. I also love the 140 character limit. Inspires poetic brevity, or at least brevity.

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