Judy Gombita of PR Conversations tried to leave a comment on my recent post about the (apparently exaggerated) decline of Facebook, but her comment was rejected due to its plethora of links. So, she emailed the comment to me, and I thought it was worthy of its very own post. Here it is. (As a caution to commenters, the WordPress comment function on this blog isn’t very link-friendly, so please keep that in mind when posting. Just post the URL instead of trying to insert html code, and you should be fine.)
Hey Andrew, I agree with you that the kool-aid crowd has moved on to Twitter, but whether it will ever reach the critical mass/numbers (worldwide) of Facebook, I’m highly doubtful.
The bright shiny new toys crowd (BSNTC) tend to be very loud and adamant at the front end about how useful and necessary is the tool/platform/channel, but they are also the first to be fickle and move on. Twelve to 18 months ago everyone was telling me that I *had* to be exploring Second Life, because my organization would *have* to have a presence in there or risk being left behind by the competition.
I held fast.
For the last six to 12 months I’ve been rejecting “be my FB friend” requests. The BSNTC is always amazed that I haven’t sent up a profile in FB. Of course they are now yawning in boredom about how “so 2007” it is and complaining about FB’s numerous applications (you know, the ones they happily installed), the Beacon fiasco, etc.
Yep, the main problem with FB is that it *isn’t* as fast and easy and valuable and fun as Twitter! (At least for the next two to three months…after that they will move on to the next BSNT….)
I haven’t rejected the concept of micro-blogging wholesale (although I doubt the current iteration of Twitter will prove to be the killer app). It just hasn’t proven itself for (my) business direction/needs as yet. (And I have a real office water cooler, so don’t feel the need of an online one.)
FYI, I keep my eye out for relevant articles (and not always negative ones!) and send them on to my University of Georgia “blogging prof” and unabashd Twitter champion pal, Karen Miller. See how she is incorporating Twitter into her class assignments and building up a nice little list of resources for her students. FYI, I sent her these two:
How Individuals Use Twitter, Peter Kim
(When I sent this second one, I actually put in the Subject line: OK, this makes sense)
On a side note, I think there would be a greater acceptance and use for Twitter if the BSNTC didn’t try so hard (and often) to be “clever” on Twitter. Or so obviously cliquey. Not to mention the excruciating amount of details about their food intake and travel plans and the “good mornings” and “good nights Twitterati.” It’s that kind of behaviour that earns the phrase “overactive tweets.” (Credit to Jenn Mattern for that one.)
My Twitter and Facebook activity has been pretty light lately. Likewise with this blog. A combination of work craziness and some under-the-weatherness has contributed to my malaise. Maybe next week I’ll get back into the social networking groove.
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Andrew Careaga 