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I think one of the things holding back Twitter from going “mainstream” is the fact that it’s so open and public. I was browsing through some blogs the other day and found a comment that read:
… Twitter is like a crowded room where everyone is yelling over each other …
This seems to be most people’s first impression unless they have someone to sit them down and show them how conversations flow.
For some reason we’ve come to believe that our relationships should spawn from real life introductions. Even after that there is the formality of managing acquaintances, friends and family. Twitter kind of breaks all the rules of traditional friendship. One could jump into any conversation at any time, in real time. We all share a single common bond, an interest in social media.
Once people can change their mindset from “sharing their lives with strangers” to “sharing their lives with new friends”, the barrier will be broken and we move on to our next obstacle.
What is the next obstacle? Complete transparency.
I think this will come in the form of video, geolocal microblog posts or a combination of the two. It’s easy to hide behind an avatar and 140 characters. You can take time to sculpt your tweet, spell check, rewrite, etc. Video brings a whole different level of honesty to the table that can only be described as near complete transparency. Facial expressions, tone and how you articulate yourself transcend static text.
It may be awhile before the masses can communicate at this level via the web …. but why should it be any different than real life?
This idea of complete transparency is something I've thought about for awhile. I just announced today who my boyfriend is on my blog, and I want to start to do video blogging as soon as my flip camera arrives from Amazon. I like complete transparency, but I think it can be dangerous too - we need to manage expectations and draw some lines of privacy.
I went to a networking dinner last night and someone asked me what she would get out of Twitter since she hears it's people posting about what they had for breakfast. I said that while it's like anything, you get what you put in, I said the value for me is that I probably get more knowledge about the world, current events, trends, and updates on friends in real time than I could if I relied on the old methods of communication. Sure there are workarounds, you don't have to rely on Twitter...but for example:
My Washington Post updates (no matter how many times I allow them through) keep getting caught in my Spam filter...and I'm never home in time for the 5:00 news...and I don't want to waste newsprint even if I make an effort to recycle it. With all that, I get my news from Twitter because it's easy, fast, and current. So clearly, much more than what someone had for breakfast.
@Rebecca: That's interesting, I was just talking to a friend about this yesterday. Basically where do we draw the line between convenience and privacy. I argued that our personal business is never truly private but just inconvenient for someone else to find out. Personally, I think that the wealth of information, honesty and quality outweighs any privacy risks.
@Emily: Now imagine if Twitter did a better job of geolocating posts .... kind of like what BrightKite does. You could isolate exactly what's happening in your own neighborhood on top of whatever else is happening in the world. We're only scratching the surface of these powerful communication mediums.
I know, isn't it neat? It's so much more than oversharing your personal life...which still seems to be the opinion of some non-users I run into.
"Once people can change their mindset from “sharing their lives with strangers” to “sharing their lives with new friends”, the barrier will be broken and we move on to our next obstacle."
I love that -- I think you really captured what exactly the barrier is. That is exactly, in my opinion, what is holding Twitter back from going mainstream. People get what it is -- but they haven't gotten past those barriers that they have.
I asked the question "What's your 20 seconds Twitter pitch?" on Seesmic to get some video responses. That's actually what inspired this post.
Jonathan -- I'm still trying to strike the balance between being transparent and then being TOO transparent. My blog has actually run me into trouble a couple of times in my personal life. I never want to censor myself and I want to avoid hiding behind an alias. What do you think constitutes true transparency and how much of your life should you keep private?
I think transparency is an even bigger issue with brands on Twitter. Whenever I get followed by a company, I always wait a few days to see if they are contributing anything of substance other then their basic marketing initiatives (promotions, contests, new blog posts.) If not, I usually won't follow back. The companies I follow are ones that provide real value to me such as providing great customer service, tweeting interesting thoughts/articles/sites, and engage in meaningful conversations with people other than talking their brand/product 24/7. Then and only then, will I be inclined to engage with them and participate in their contests/promotions. However, I think if companies took your advice and started doing more videos (with the person running their Twitter) it would create a bigger sense of trust with tweeps and their consumers. This will show the company's "Tweeter" as a real person who isnt just on Twitter to SPAM, but to get to know their customers and engage with people.
@Jamie: I guess it depends on the person and how they plan on using social media. I keep two separate blogs (one for business and one personal). I don't hide the personal one because if anyone really wanted to dig deeper into my life, that would be the best place to look.
The problem is we've all got skeletons in our closet and we assume we're the only ones.
Personally, I simply acknowledge the fact we are all human and make mistakes. I would rather put myself out there and know what's being said about me than have people assume other things about me.
Furthermore (touching on your "Does Generation Y Need To Grow Up?" post) I never judge anyone by what they've done, only by who they are.
The consequences of total transparency:
Epic Twitter Fail:
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/virginia-gop-chairmans-blog-o...
More Epic Twitter Fail:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/feb/11/twitter-pete-hoekstra-i...
Why someone would do something that would endanger them is beyond me. They didn't HAVE to Tweet when they did.
Transparency to me is seeing the honesty in ones eyes. That is all.
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