5 Reasons My Roommate Hates Twitter
My cousin (and roommate) cracks on Twitter every a single day, especially since it’s shown up on every single TV show out right now. He hates Twitter, and here’s why. Do you think you can change his mind?
#5 “I don’t care what other people are doing when it’s stupid like, ‘I just ate a cracker, and it was good.’ Unless you’re tweeting, ‘I just lost my virginity,’ then maybe I might be interested because that’s just funny. I feel like if I don’t care what you’re doing, you don’t care what I’m doing, so why bother?”
#4 “I don’t like the terms ‘tweet’ and ‘follower.’ I’m not a follower, I’m a leader. And ‘tweet’ kinda sounds stupid. I can’t imagine going up to my friends and sayin, ‘Yo, I’m gonna tweet you later.”
#3 “It seems like it’s for kids. If you’re over 21, you shouldn’t be tweeting! Go do something adults do, like ACTUALLY talk to people.”
#2 “On Facebook, I can comment on what my friends write and other people can see it. It just makes more sense then replying and retweeting and all that complicated shit.”
#1 “It’s just not gonna last, it’s something that 10 years from now we’re gonna be like, ‘Yo, remember Twitter? Why don’t you ‘tweet’ me anymore?”
BONUS INSULT: “What are guys and girls gonna do now in social situations? They can’t get Twitter names anymore, how kids ever gonna date?”
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About The Author
Anthony Perez
Anthony Perez is a scatterbrained insomniac with aspirations of becoming a film director. For now, he's a community manager at StrawberryFrog, a global digital marketing agency. He's worked for social media agency Conversation, digital media planning agency Flying Point Media, and also did direct B2B sales for Quill office supplies. He also helped do research for Greg Verdino's upcoming book microMARKETING. Also check the gaming blog he manages over at Smashpad.com.
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Anthony, I don't know if I can change any minds but here's some feedback for your roomie:
#5 – The tool is what you make of it. Third party applications like HootSuite and TweetDeck make data compartmentalization easy and allow for more meaningful and sophisticated group followings and conversations.
#4 – Agree, but let's remember that we've taken Twitter a long way from where it started. I, too, got creeped out when I signed up and suddenly got an email that somebody I didn't recognize was, "following," me. I will offer this–something one of my business ethics professors said that stuck with me: "Leaders need followers." The whole bird thing, "tweet," included, provides a convenient branding mechanism, the benefits of which I'm sure your cousin can explain. Doesn't stop me from grimacing when I'm speaking to a group of professionals with a median age over 40 and get to the part where I have to explain, "tweet."
#3 – Internet social networking in general should be seen not as a substitute for eye to eye, flesh to flesh but as an extension thereof. The miracle of it is that it allows us to network professionally just like we do at, say, chamber of commerce events but without the previously accepted limitations of geography and chronology. So maybe look at it all as a networking event that never ends with conversations into which you may enter and engage as it suits you. Meet someone online that can help your business and they're within driving distance? Yeah, get together. But don't hesitate to develop a relationship with someone on the other side of the world just because the two of you may never actually sit in the same Starbuck's at the same time.
#2 – Hopefully you're using Firefox and if you are, download @Troynt script settings. It provides lots of cool features including the ability to track conversations on Twitter. The nature of the beast won't change and I think we're discovering that Facebook is a "conversation" medium while Twitter is a "broadcast" medium (that's not mine, I read it via @andybeal's Twitter feed and liked it) Unfortunately, I don't think there's an app that can help you watch your language online, but if I ever come across one I'll be happy to let you know.
#1 – True, all products and industries follow a very predictable cycle and these will be no different, so yes they will adapt or be replaced. The irreversible trend, however, is toward broad interactivity and connectivity. The tools we use will change but the general nature of Web 2.0 is a permanent shift in the communications paradigm.
Bonus – Yeah, I'm married and my oldest is 9 so dating issues are gonna have to be someone else's area. Been there, done that, no longer care. Won't be "tweeting" about it, that's for sure.
I would humbly offer my blog hanberymarketing.com/blog as a place where most of these items have been explored in greater detail.
Finally, Anthony, thanks for the article and for the recommendation on Arkayne. What a cool tool, yes?
Haha, nice points. My roommate never understood Twitter and this was just a rant he had while watching CNN and they were promoting it. He still hasn't gotten into it, but it's safe to say that I have (though it took me a while.)
I don't think I'll ever get into Foursquare though. I just don't see the value proposition. I do see the value in getting deals from local restaurants as mentioned in Best of Social Media #1.
But for me, what I would be most interested in checking into would be concerts or conventions. But honestly, I would only really check in once to those things and now pick up on the benefits of the game mechanisms. Even if I did though, badges and mayorships have never really done much to increase my interest in the services anyway.