Ok, ok, ok, call me Arlen Specter. I broke down and joined Twitter. As a Technology Specialist attending a four day technology conference in DC, it really just had to be done.
While you make a great point, Nana, about all social networking sites not being a ‘one size fits all,’ I discovered that by not participating in Twitter I was missing out on an opportunity to network and stay informed at the conference.
I didn’t imagine that I would need to learn things like how the @ works or the # in creating Tweets. I basically use it to keep up with what ‘important’ people in the education and technology field are saying. I could see it taking up a lot of people’s time looking through hundreds of posts and links. Fortunately, I have no luxury of extra time!
It is pretty amazing how Twitter users have molded it into what it is today. My recent reading of The Wisdom of Crowds has gotten me thinking about this phenomenon of bottom-up coordination and management on the internet. I highly recommend picking up this book. It’s a bit dense, but worth it!