Comments on: Social media. Neither social nor media. Discuss.

By: Christopher L. Jorgensen

Christopher L. Jorgensen — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 04:39:12 +0000

Joel, I think you should read this essay as well: http://omgomgomfg.com/2008/11/11/twittah-plz-harnessing-the-power-of-the-twitter-community/ It’s the best twitter primer I’ve read, and explains many of the pitfalls you mention.

Christopher L. Jorgensen

By: www.loudhive.com

www.loudhive.com — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 01:49:30 +0000

To be 100% honest…i wanted to find testers for our startup at twitter. Now, its just fun and i feel in touch with the world.

We still want beta testers though

T.Rex

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 00:55:53 +0000

I agree with all your thoughts here. Twitter is a fast growing community and there are many ways to use it and the ways it gets used will continue to grow. I like that it can be used in a variety of ways. I think it a key value of Twitter.

By: Eden Spodek

Eden Spodek — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 19:54:19 +0000

Agreed! I have four different twitter accounts with unique objectives and use each in a different way. There isn’t one right way to use twitter. If you use it inappropriately, people who follow you will let you know in a variety of ways.

When I first started using twitter in early 2007 as @Bargainista, it was almost strictly for broadcasting information about sales (I have a shopping blog, it seemed to make a lot of sense).

Some bloggers liked what I did and blogged about it as an example of a good way to use twitter. Now there are lots of people who say if you’re not using twitter for conversations you’re using it wrong. Guess what? Lots of new people still follow @Bargainista every day and other shopping bloggers are doing the same thing.

I set up shared accounts for @PodcampToronto and @CommunityDivas. Both of them are a bit of a hybrid between broadcasting, microblogging and social networking.

I’m most active as @EdenSpodek. I started this account for conversations/social networking and to expand my focus beyond shopping. I don’t get hung up on the whole follow-unfollow thing. I keep doing my thing - conversing, sharing and learning from others - and it works.

By: Dan Thornton

Dan Thornton — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 19:43:40 +0000

As with most of these discussions, in the end it comes down to how names and definitions are interpreted.

For me, social just means there is the opportunity to connect with other people, and media just means content (text/images/video/audio).

Twitter is a social network, in the same way that Facebook is, but also in the same ways forums have been for years, or meeting up with people in real life - and you’re correct in saying it’s down to individuals how they use it.

I think most people are advising others because they want to help, but also because they want to shape users that they interact with to use the service in the same manner so they don’t have to deal with anyone doing anything they don’t agree with!