Twitter thoughts

I’ve been using Twitter for a while now. You can find me here.

But what about Twitter? What’s it useful for? How to cope with the constant stream of mostly unimportant updates from the ton of people you follow?

Twitter’s kind of like IRC

I think Twitter is kind of like IRC. Except it’s not.

I’ve used it to tweet random thoughts, things, links, ideas and stuff like that. I do that on IRC as well, but that usually leads to more discussion, or the lol’s and :D’s good links get.

So in that way, Twitter is a bit like IRC, but not as immediate and active. At least from my perspective.

Also, I initially had problems following all the tweeting the people I followed on Twitter did. In that way too, it’s a bit like IRC - if you’re on many channels, it’s tricky to follow all conversation.

It took me a while to start thinking of tweets like IRC: I initially thought of it more like a forum, where you would usually want to read all messages. When I started thinking of Twitter more like IRC, I suddenly had no problems following more people, because I started ignoring most of what they said when I wasn’t looking - like you do on IRC.

A convenient feature of Twitter is the Replies thing - kind of like nick highlights on IRC. That let’s me to pick up the messages I missed that were pointed at me, and also from those who I’m not following. I just wish more people bothered checking their replies, as I’ve asked some questions from people who don’t follow me and got no replies.

Twitter vs. other messaging “platforms”

Since I’m quite active on IRC, do I want to keep using Twitter too, since it’s really so similar to IRC?

The short answer is yes.

The long answer is: Since not everyone uses IRC, Twitter is kind of like another “channel”. Many people who read my blog are also on Twitter, so it kind of gives me a way of getting feedback from them. The same applies also to some blogs I read: the blogger is on Twitter, so I can tell them my opinions about what they just wrote about.

Finally, a few more

• It’s a little more personal than IRC, but not quite as attention requiring.
• But it’s not quite as personal as email or instant messaging, but it’s a little more attention requiring than email.
• You can exchange messages and thoughts without putting so much effort into it, as you might have to with some other mediums.
• And lastly, it’s great when some companies (like Dreamhost) have customer support there!

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