Why People Don't Use Twitter

I'm PRO Twitter Usage, bring on the CONS

[incrediBILL]

I've recently heard some interesting reasons of why people DON'T use Twitter which I find kind of bizarre actually. What's more interesting is the people that seem to complain the most about it have sometimes admitted they NEVER used it! How can anyone have such a strong opinion on something they've never even tried?

What I find fascinating is some of these people use IM, SMS, email, Facebook, etc. but draw the line at Twitter. Seriously?

To me Twitter is kind of like a CB radio. You just put it out there and if anyone knows anything about it they'll reply in real-time. Sometimes what you get in response is literally amazing IMO.

Some examples of why I like Twitter is the first time I complained in Twitter about a Comcast internet problem a Comcast service rep tweeted back and helped resolve my issue in mere minutes. Ever since then I go to Twitter for Comcast support instead of their phone based support system from hell. Also had a problem with LATNIC whois queries once and they replied and pointed me towards their new API which solved the problem. Companies are listening and it can be quite amusing at times what happens when you mention certain things. Many people post links to lots of new information being posted daily and I keep up-to-date on stuff I'd never have time to find on my own.

One morning I was having a real-time kerfuffle in Twitter with the local newscaster over something stupid he said on TV and was busy back peddling and arguing with me on Twitter during commercial breaks. It was hysterical.

That's just the tip of the iceberg and the overall experience has been nothing short of amazing IMO.

Customers use it, clients use it, friends use it, so let's hear it, why DON'T you use Twitter?

Inquiring minds want to know.

[SevenCubed]

To me Twitter is kind of like a CB radio.

That's why I don't use it. When I was a teen my social media was in fact a CB radio. I also know a fellow who had a holed up section in the basement where he secluded himself from all of his siblings and set up his environment for "exploring the world" via radio waves.

The problem was the "skip" interference was so intense during high sunspot activity that he couldn't hear his buddy only a few miles away through the noise (twitter chirping). Bare with me this is on topic!

He longed to have interesting conversations but the Department of Communications rules said he wasn't allowed to talk to those people far away. He still to this day has a few shoe boxes full of QSL cards confirming communications with people in 49 of the 50 states as well as 9 of the 10 provinces here. But he quickly realized the conversations were very shallow -- just exchange of weather reports and such. Twitter-like contacts.

Undaunted, he was somehow introduced to a bunch of old local hams (amateur radio operators). When he talked with them (in person) their world knowledge intrigued him. So he began his studies to get his ham license. He had no problem with the theory but the Morse code kicked his butt *sigh*. He couldn't even master the novice class of 7 words per minute.

I would compare ham radio operators to Webmaster World members where I know there's likely to be something interesting going on -- something worth learning. Therefore I have no need for Twitter at the moment. Don't know about the future though. But it stifles my long winded style :)

By the way that fellow eventually figured out how to reverse the crystals in his 11 metre CB to fall into the 10 metre ham band and enjoyed countless hours of meaningful conversations with old hams chock full of wisdom -- they were masters of the world web of communications frequencies.

I recognize that same value in places like this social media outlet of Webmaster World. Twitter, not so much.

[not2easy]

(OT warning-) you can tell your friend that Morse code requirement for licensing was dropped about 5 years ago.

[SevenCubed]

Ohhhhhhh I'll let him know thanks!

[ken_b]

I'm not a big user of Twitter, barely at all.

But of all the social media I think Twitter is here to stay, and I hope I'm right about that.

Yeah there is a lot of fluff, and some will never get past that. But the fluff is just the filler in between instant and urgent news type stuff.

I also think incrediBILL's example of the customer support fits that instant and urgent model well.

In that light, I think the severe constraints on message size is a real plus, they're what I think will make the system continue to function for the benefit of the users overall.

[incrediBILL]

Twitter is kind of like the beginning of the Borg's collective consciousness. I think of I think of Twitter more like a human search engine at times. While Google may not be capable of dealing with semantics, the thousand+ followers I have are perfectly capable.

Granted it takes a little while to figure out how to get the maximum ROI from Twitter, but once you do it can be amazing.

If you live in states with wild weather or earthquakes then Twitter can be very helpful because the tweets fly the minute the ground barely shakes like a big human powered seismograph.

Therefore I have no need for Twitter at the moment. Don't know about the future though. But it stifles my long winded style

I don't look to have the entire conversation on Twitter, but more of a means to find out where the conversation I need is being held at the moment or the best place to have it. Nobody is going to discuss 100s of lines of code in Twitter but you can certainly use Twitter to find out the most appropriate place to do such a thing.

I've actually met some people I didn't know on Twitter that helped me resolve some head banging programming problem within mere minutes that wouldn't have happened on WebmasterWorld. While the level of expertise among some WebmasterWorld members is second to none, top notch talent, their availability and response times might be hours, days or even weeks. Compare that to Twitter where I threw a problem out there and had someone point me to the solution in mere minutes. I had already done exhaustive searching for hours in Google, Bing, several forums and came up with nothing yet a couple of tweets later I was pointed in the direction of a solution.

think the severe constraints on message size is a real plus

In a way it's kind of like the HTTP protocol, the short header sent out that ends with a much bigger resulting document.

The fluff issue is easy to deal with, just don't follow fluffy people :)

Coming from the Midwest where people deliberately like to make short stories long, using something like Twitter is kind of a smack upside the head for many to learn how to get to the point already!

I always made fun of my Midwest heritage by reversing "To make a long story short..." to my well known counter phrase "To make a short story long...". The first time I said that to my Floridian wife she said it didn't make any sense but has long sense changed her mind after listening to some of my relatives babble on endlessly without even stopping to catch heir breath as they jump from story to story and eventually return to and finish the original topic.

[jecasc]

Some examples of why I like Twitter is the first time I complained in Twitter about a Comcast internet problem a Comcast service rep tweeted back and helped resolve my issue in mere minutes. Ever since then I go to Twitter for Comcast support instead of their phone based support system from hell.

There is the reason I do not use twitter in a nutshell.

Because I would be the comcast guy in this twitter conversation.

If I started using twitter my customers would probably do the same thing you did - instead of emailing or phoning me during service hours they would blast out their questions on twitter. Once you open this channel it's hard to close it again.

Either you have to do it right or not at all.

[bill]

Here's a Con: As Twitter has decimated their own developers with their new API, and bought up the best aggregators and tools...only to let them die on the vine...i.e., TweetDeck, I find it difficult to follow the conversations or to participate in them on their website.

[travelin cat]

I find it difficult to follow the conversations or to participate in them on their website.

Bingo!

I am an avid Twitter hater. I find it's limitations do nothing more than create 140 character abominations of language. It's not possible to carry on a real conversation in Twitter as it is in other social media and most of the tweets are nonsensical fluff.

[bwnbwn]

twitter to me is like the ole chat days were there was so much noise it wasn't worth the time or effort.
You can tweet were to join up parties etc but having a conversation is more about me than finding information.

[brotherhood of LAN]

It's good for instant news, I've visited when a TV station is down, or a website (to confirm it's not my end).... or to get some really local news that'd take an hour through more traditional web channels.

I see the uses for it, but I just don't use it all that often. Unless an 'event' has happened in the past few minutes, a regular search engine is good for me.

[Rugles]

Nothing breaks news faster than Twitter. That is what I like about it best.

Or if I am watching an event on television I will have twitter on the iPad and then I follow what other people are saying about whatever I am watching. Be it sports or a Prez debate it really adds to the experience.

Other than that, I don't find it useful very often. I don't bother doing any kind of commercial stuff with my personal account. We do have a company account and only tweet once in a while because it does not suit our customers very well.

[zeus]

I dont use any social media,why hmm I think im afraid when I post something i can never delete it again, if I have posted something wrong or when want to quit that all my posts are still there.

[netmeg]

I would post about how Twitter has changed some aspects of my life and my career, but Bill wants to know why people *don't* use twitter.

#62645Tweets

[linkbuildr]

Twitter is one of my best tools for building the best links in my niche...hands down. It's all about building a relationship and this is the tool for the job.

[blend27]

Twitter is banned on our corporate Phones/LAN. I don't like to carry 2 phones and when I leave work I have no interest in 140 character anything. I do visit WebmasterWorld at least 3-4 times a day though.

[celgins]

I've thought about using Twitter, but I really don't have that much to say. Most of what I have to say is simply an opinion and not many--if any--people care about that.

From a business perspective, or maybe even a celebrity standpoint, I can see using it. Never before have businesses, celebrities, etc. been able to gauge user, client or fan feedback, and interact with them as much as they want.

Remember the days (decades ago before social media) when people used to buy maps to celebrity homes, or purchase a rolodex of unpublished celebrity phone numbers?

No need for that these days--you can interact with professional athletes, celebrities, news anchors, bank VPs, etc., and give them something most of them seem to enjoy--attention.

I, however, don't care too much about personal attention.

[ScottM]

I don't use Twitter for the same reason I don't like using (answering) a cell phone all the time:

When attempted communication from outside our household becomes TOO convenient, I resist it.

Here is a Bible verse that says the same thing:

Proverbs 25:17
Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbour's house; lest he be weary of thee, and so hate thee.

[TypicalSurfer]

When attempted communication from outside our household becomes TOO convenient, I resist it.

Yeah, I can't quite put my finger on it but there is a point at which all the connectedness morphs into being disconnected. Like going out to lunch and its all cellphones and texts and you wonder "who did I just eat with and why?".

[incrediBILL]

If I started using twitter my customers would probably do the same thing you did - instead of emailing or phoning me during service hours they would blast out their questions on twitter. Once you open this channel it's hard to close it again.

By ignoring your customers complaining on Twitter you're simply doing that, ignoring them which is opportunity lost and bad customer service IMO. I'm not saying that you need to move support to Twitter, but at a minimum have someone, even an auto-responder, tell people where to go for help. Posting an 800 #, link to a help or contact page, whatever, is better than just leaving people to complain.

Trust me, it's a very nice perk to think that the company thought so much of their customer that they heard them and reached out to make first contact.

Likewise for Facebook.

most of the tweets are nonsensical fluff

If you follow people posting crap, er um FLUFF you get nothing but fluff. However, if you follow people in your industry posting about various topics with links and events you can get a really good useful feed to keep on top of the latest hot topics all day every day.

Like anything else, you get out of Twitter what you put into it.

It can be a very useful tool, or it can be crap, depends on how you use it and of course that goes for any social media, forum, etc.

[Whitey]

It seems to work on game related progress in sport, yet most of the crowd who might have a dying need to know what's going on over there, simply haven't adopted it. I think that part of the problem is the lack of firepower in the promotional area of it's benefits.

Twitter really needs to spell out to the masses, why it is useful. Maybe it's beyond their budget to do so.

[wildbest]

Customers use it, clients use it, friends use it, so let's hear it, why DON'T you use Twitter?

Because I have my own website!

[docbird]

I find Facebook works for me rather as people here describing for Twitter.
Got a twitter account, posted - nada; indeed few followers and not many followed, but found facebook used a lot by many people I know [unlike twitter], and I indeed see breaking news etc etc. Don't hear anyone talking about twitter, unlike facebook.
So depends partly where you are, circles you're in.

[scooterdude]

Hi All

Total ignoramus about twitter here,

Per OP are you saying that a random question aimed at no one in particular can be picked up by anyone in the world with a twitter account perhaps set to pick up keywords in the tweet, who can then respond ?

I looked at tweeter a long time ago an then i thought you had to follow someone to get their tweets

[zeus]

Well I have been thinking about it, but would NEVER join facebook. As user is it possible to delete everything if you dont want to have a account anymore.?

I have also never heard anything bad about Twitter compared to google andfacebook

[g1smd]

Because I would be the comcast guy in this twitter conversation.

If I started using twitter my customers would probably do the same thing you did - instead of emailing or phoning me during service hours they would blast out their questions on twitter.

Responding on Twitter: an immediate public response.

Seen to be pro-active in dealing with queries and problems.

[jecasc]

Responding on Twitter: an immediate public response.
Seen to be pro-active in dealing with queries and problems.

There are many channels you can use for both customer support and for communicating that you have good customer service.

I have email and a ticket system for customer service and I use a review service with several thousand positive reviews to communicate the quality of my services.

I rather use those existing channels in an efficent way instead of opening up other channels, especially when I know I could not maintain the high quality on each channel. It is better to know your limits. There is no lack of companies that try to be present on twitter, facebook, google+ and fail miserably on all because they simply do not have the resources to focus on all.

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

Celebs use twitter because 140 characters and no maintenance with instant reach is as good as it gets. Twitter would do well to remember that before they "add features" that result in more maintenance required.

[Rosalind]

Granted it takes a little while to figure out how to get the maximum ROI from Twitter

I'm surprised at how difficult some people find Twitter. They don't understand how to work it, don't get the etiquette, and don't want to spend the hours it takes to add and manage follow lists. For some it's quite a steep learning curve. It's all too easy for webmasters immersed in a cocoon of social media awareness to forget that the majority of people don't want to have to think about this stuff. Twitter just has to find a way to make the experience even simpler without removing any features.

[oliondor]

Because they might have something more interesting and useful to do than wasting time on social networks ?