PR Studies

Speed versus substance

Here's a confession: I've done no more than dip my toe into Twitter. I know it's where the conversation is, I know it's the latest toy loved by celebrities and social media mavens. I know it's where news breaks and gets discussed. I know it's a great example of the mobile internet.

I also recognise (and this is best of all) that it's easier to get into than blogging, so a new generation has skipped blogging and become enthused by real-time conversations on Twitter. (Consider the irony: blogging, like email, is considered 'too slow' by Generation Y whose members grew up on instant messaging and mobile phone text messages.)

But even so. I'm not fashion-conscious and I'm keen to keep the noise down and cut through the clutter. Besides, I don't currently have any clients so the need to be actively engaged is lessened. If anything, I've moved more of my reading in the direction of good old-fashioned books in the past year. There's a tension here and I'm pulling against the trend.

But there's something else, a concern about the trade off between speed and substance. Stuart Bruce points to a post by Robert Scoble (in turn quoting Forrest Research analyst Jeremiah Owyang):

"The other night Jeremiah Owyang told me that thought leaders should avoid spending a lot of time in Twitter or FriendFeed because that time will be mostly wasted. If you want to reach normal people, he argued, they know how to use Google. And if you want to get into Google the best device — by far — is a blog."

So it's OK for me to come out as a Twitter refusenik. See how I'm ahead of the curve?

Comments

Speed versus substance

Here's a confession: I've done no more than dip my toe into Twitter. I know it's where the conversation is, I know it's the latest toy loved by celebrities and social media mavens. I know it's where news breaks and gets discussed. I know it's a great example of the mobile internet.

I also recognise (and this is best of all) that it's easier to get into than blogging, so a new generation has skipped blogging and become enthused by real-time conversations on Twitter. (Consider the irony: blogging, like email, is considered 'too slow' by Generation Y whose members grew up on instant messaging and mobile phone text messages.)

But even so. I'm not fashion-conscious and I'm keen to keep the noise down and cut through the clutter. Besides, I don't currently have any clients so the need to be actively engaged is lessened. If anything, I've moved more of my reading in the direction of good old-fashioned books in the past year. There's a tension here and I'm pulling against the trend.

But there's something else, a concern about the trade off between speed and substance. Stuart Bruce points to a post by Robert Scoble (in turn quoting Forrest Research analyst Jeremiah Owyang):

"The other night Jeremiah Owyang told me that thought leaders should avoid spending a lot of time in Twitter or FriendFeed because that time will be mostly wasted. If you want to reach normal people, he argued, they know how to use Google. And if you want to get into Google the best device — by far — is a blog."

So it's OK for me to come out as a Twitter refusenik. See how I'm ahead of the curve?