I’m guessing that pretty much everyone has mixed feelings about the micro-blogging service, Twitter. The ability to rapidly post ‘tweets’ of no more than 140 characters can easily be seen as both a blessing and a curse.
I was certainly in the skeptical camp for a long time and easily resisted the temptation to sign up. Blogging in 140 characters, I scoffed, what a pitiful waste of time! And so I might have remained, had events in May not propelled me into the twittersphere. Though I’ve only been tweeting for a month, that’s eons in the twitterverse and so it’s high time I blogged about the experience.
It all started while I was attending the dramatic Skeptics in the Pub meeting in support of Simon Singh, who is currently being sued for libel by the British Chriopractic Association. Don’t tell me you didn’t know…! Unexpectedly finding myself standing at the very front of the crowd, I was able to snap pictures of the speakers with my iPhone and upload them to facebook, a purely visual form of live-blogging I’d not tried before. That got me thinking.
Dave Gorman at Skeptics in the Pub
I blogged about the meeting later that night and during the ensuing discussion became aware that the issue of Singh’s libel case was very much humming on Twitter. With encouragement from Clare, I finally took the plunge. You can now follow me at @Stephen_Curry. If you want to.
Poo-tee-weet!
The value of Twitter for keeping abreast of hot news was immediately apparent. The introduction of the ‘hashtag’ #singhbca made it easy to stay in touch with the Singh case since those following closely made sure to tag their tweets with this marker. That way I got early alerts about the publication of press releases from the British Chiropractic Association and the resulting analysis of the community who are tracking this issue. And boy are the BCA taking a beating. Having finally in this past week coughed up the list of papers that they claim as the evidence in support of their claim against Singh, the twittering/blogging community is now taking a very close look at the quality of this evidence. Martin Robbins of The Lay Scientist is, among others, at the forefront of this effort. Check out his recent post on this BCA press release (which also includes links to other bloggers who are contributing to the analysis).
I don’t know where these people get the time to do such sterling work (which is subjecting the chiropractic profession to the kind of intense scrutiny that it cannot have experienced before), but it strikes me that what they are doing is a brilliant piece of community service. Already a whole swathe of chiropractic web-sites have been advised to withdraw claims for treatment efficacy that they cannot justify with evidence.
But the impact of Twitter can be much wider. It seems to have played a vital role in allowing Iranians to tell the world about their experiences of the protests that have swept Tehran in this past week – providing an immediate and chaotic and visceral account of the unfolding events (and offering links to pictures and video). The hashtag #iranelection has been one of the hottest on Twitter in recent days. And it works both ways – people from around the world have been retweeting the reports (to their followers) and sending messages of support. For me this has been a totally new type of experience of dramatic events in a far off country. Somehow the BBC news, for all its quality, never provided such a direct connection.
On a lighter, but still democratic note, an online poll by the right-wing Daily Mail which asked the typically loaded question “Should the NHS allow gipsies to jump the queue” prompted the Twitter community to get organised. I saw tweet after tweet urging people to vote ‘Yes’, voted myself and re-tweeted. The poll, which delivered an astounding 93% ‘Yes’ vote was removed from the newspaper’s website. Perhaps because they were astonished by their readers’ liberal views!?!
Other campaigns have worked less well and perhaps show up the limitations of micro-blogging. Last week was official “Homeopathy Awareness Week” and, if you followed the #homeopathy tag, you would have seen comments from both sides of the debate about this unscientific mumbo-jumbo. But there was no real engagement. I found myelf resorting to wise-cracking: “Homeopathy awareness. Careful: risk of drowning”. In retrospect I’m not especially proud of this.
And then of course there is the whole lighter side of Twitter – the endless nonsense and puffery. Some of it is sublime, (some not so). Through Twitter I first heard about Robert Llewelleyn’s wonderful Carpool video podcast. Then there was a heads-up about the man who tried to pay his bills with a drawing of a spider – utterly wacky (this is even wackier). I am now also subscribing to the Nature news @ApolloPlus40 which is aiming to twitter “the Apollo 11 moon mission as it happened — 40 years on”. I’m a sucker for that kind of thing.
And last week during the tube strike I gave in to one of the more narcissistic aspect of Twitter and micro-blogged my walk from Victoria to South Kensington.
Harvey Nichols in Knightsbridge: Yes, we do have bananas.
Not sure if anyone was watching though.
But. And it’s quite a bit but. It may be only micro-blogging, 140 characters at a time, short and sweet, crisp and to the point. But it’s highly addictive and it does suck up a hell of a lot of time.
In the morning before I even get out of bed I find myself checking up on the latest tweets from the people I follow. At work, between tasks, I have caught myself just having a quick look to see what’s going on. And then getting diverted. Often tweets provide links to web-sites that you end up following. Few people can construct an interesting narrative from just the 140 characters so many emissions are simply links to other material.
It’s a rich, rich source of information and interaction. But it’s doing my head in. That’s why Jim Hendler’s blog post last Friday hit home so well. His piece is about finding the time to blog, which itself is an issue for me. But if I add to that the distraction of Twitter, the problem is compounded. I keep thinking back to Richard Hamming’s remarks about sustaining that 10% extra effort in your science so as to reap long-term benefits in progress and productivity. And I wonder if blogging and twittering has soaked up that time from my schedule. I think it might have.
Oh, look – Maxine’s tweeted. Kthxbye.
The magic’s just not happening for me, Stephen. I agree that it’s slick for hot news, at least until you get to the point where you need some sense & analysis. There’s a BBS I’ve used for years locally for that kind of news post-tornado (in fact I was just debating whether or not to log in there — just came up from a tornado warning). But as a daily thing? Not so much for me. If I’m lucky I get two interesting thoughts a day. “Saw Brning Vsn & agree w nu dirctor – films=short strys. Terifc flik. EIK, city vu.” And I just don’t want to wade through all the rest. Already suppress annoyance with friends on facebook who fill up the screen. Wish there were an “only really exciting posts” filter.
I’ve been signed up for twitter for months and months now… and don’t really do anything with it (guess I should close the account!). The last time I poked around I got very quickly put off when I looked at an ongoing exchange about how to get 100s of new followers… why? And thank you for being honest about twitter being addictive and sucking up time, Stephen – I am quite sure that it would have addictive potential for me if I gave in.
p.s. don’t keep your iphone right next to your bed. Signed: a friend.
I’ve described Twitter as standing in a crowded room at a loud party. You might meet someone interesting, and there might be a conversation nearby that is really worthwhile, but you can barely hear them over the rest of the guests screaming and the music playing too loud.
That’s exactly how I find it too, Stephen! (And I was following your trip through London, I remember the picture of the banana). Since I’ve found tweetdeck I’ve found it much more controllable. I think Eva’s analogy is a good one sometimes – by using tweetdeck I can get rid of the loud egocentric voices and concentrate on the quieter ones that have more to say.
I hear you all – there is great potential out there but how does one filter? I guess it helps only to follow people who regularly flag up new and interesting things (though even the best of us can descend into narcissistic rambling at times – Twitter seems to bring that out in people).
I’m aiming to stick with Twitter but definitely need to get my habit under control – will try to confine myself to specific times of the day (even if that somehow doesn’t seem to be in the spirit of the thing).
And Steffi’s right in that the combination of Twitter and an iPhone can be particularly distracting. What’s the iPhone equivalent of ‘Crackberry’ – I think I may be becoming one of those dreaded creatures.
I find Twiiter surprisingly useful, but only as a way to send links. It’s become the fastest way to spread news of interesting developments. If someone signs on to follow mine, I check whether they are sending gossip or useful links before reciprocating.
On the wider topic of the time all this stuff takes, I’ve enormous admiration for anyone who runs a blog together with a full time job. I still try to answer every emaail I get, however crackpot, but as readership grows it becomes very time consuming. I don’t think I could have done it when I had to teach, mark exam papers, cope with HR-bollocks AND run a lab. That being said, the only aspect of research I found that needed total concentration to the exclusion of everything else was solving algebraic problems. Most of the rest can be broken up with no great loss, but a tricky Laplace transform inversion takes over your life. It is too portable to be confined to the lab (trains are quite good though).
I also find Twitter very useful (and, yes, addictive).
My answer to ‘how does one filter’ is by using Tweetdeck or something similar. I use it very simply – I have one group of people I know reliably deliver interesting tweets (including Stephen, and other NNers, of course) and one group of people I occasionally like to dip into (about 10 times bigger). I look at the ‘hot’ group regularly and the ‘not’ group randomly, perhaps once a day. It works well for me, especially now that Tweetdeck is also available for the iPhone, with the ability to use the same groups.
David, it merely seems that you would not cope with lab and blogging simultaneously. If you have your own lab (i.e. the lab, answering to your ideas and thoughts) and good friends-colleagues in your lab, they could help you to live and work. That you say, it occurs when you are “alone in the crowd”…
During my extensive commutes I am perforce required to share my personal space with members of the … um … human race. Tweeting offers a useful and relatively risk-free way of letting off steam about my fellow passengers without recourse to the acoustic modulation of air which, once transduced, might be met with responses of a more impactful nature.
@David – slightly alarmed to read your view that blogging cannot easily be combined with a full-time research/teaching post! But not surprised. Impressed by your ability to break tasks down into manageable chunks – that’s a skill I need to develop.
@Brian – groups! Why didn’t I think of that? Thanks!
@Svetlana – see my response to David above. Wasn’t 100% sure what you were getting at.
@Henry – I had noticed. Still, I guess it’s better that it appears on Twitter rather than as a report of an ‘train passenger fracas’ on the evening news…!
I’ve avoided Twitter for largely these sort of reasons, Stephen – I am such a committed procrastinator (my greatest talent, I rather fear) that another addictive way to burn time has to be shunned for fear of total vanishes-up-own-orifice syndrome. Long ago I chose to avoid computer gaming for similar reasons. Though I guess if I had a bus/train commute, as Henry describes, that might make Twittering more tempting.
Austin, I agree. Oh, procrastination! :) Probably, I don’t like Twitter because of the same cause ;)
David, you have understood me… Besides, I am sure that “a tricky Laplace transform inversion” is MORE IMPORTANT than blogging, twitting, chatting and other nonsense, including Nature Network. :P Sorry… ;) Though people here are good.
I’m still dithering around the edges of Twitter, with just occasional forays though these are increasing gradually.
I am struck by the people who seem to be always on Twitter, always on FriendFeed, blogging regularly, commenting profusely, and (damnit) are eloquent and interesting in all these fora. My conclusion therefore is that it must be possible to dive in and not drown, but you do need to be a strong swimmer.
Meh. For me the only advantage to Twitter over Facebook is that I can get in from the work Wi-Fi network on my phone during the day (FB is blocked and I have to switch Wi-Fi off to get in). I don’t like following those compressed links out from Twitter (even though I’m guilty of using them myself) because you have no idea if you’re being directed to a blog, a video, a conventional news site etc. And I prefer the FB format, where photos, videos and links are visible in one window.
I do like following various celebrity twitterers, especially our local mayor. Although I was perturbed to find the leader of the federal Canadian Green party following me back after I started to follow her… most of my “followers” seem to be spammers who disappear after a couple of days.
@Austin – it is a good diversion on the commute (esp. if train is crowded and no room to get papers out). Tonight I used it to discover that there are more episodes of The Thick of it in the offing, and that Nature News has a piece on the blogosphere’s response to the BCA’s press release on its ‘plethora’ of evidence (mentioned in my post above).
@Svetlana – I wouldn’t underestimate the importance of nonsense…! ;-)
@Frank – I guess we all need swimming lessons… know a good coach?
@Cath – I read that first as ‘feral Canadian Green party’ and was momentarily alarmed on your behalf. You’re right that facebook is more informative in its layout (though still a bit clunky I find). However, since joinng Twitter, I find that I gravitate to it first for news. And my tweets (and those of many friends) end up there anyway (and on friendfeed) – though I think they may not be so informative to people on those sites where they can appear out of context.
Well, I was expecting a great disemboguement of angst at your semi-anti-twitterings, and I was prepared to rally round and offer support. But it turns out most of us are of a mind.
I haven’t meddled with groups yet, but I have a bullshit-filter one has to work hard to get through. I follow some of y’all, (and if I don’t yet, hit me up). Also Tim O’Reilly and a couple of the alpha geeks (thanks Martin) because I like to know (and need to know for work) what is happening on the fringes of the semantic web.
but it is a terrible time sink. I use Twidroid on the G1 and it seems to have crashed recently. No longer alerts me with updates, and then the icon disappeared altogether from my task bar. When I booted up my phone (how 21st century is that!) this morning I had a notification telling me there was a patch and update available. I haven’t decided if I’ll re-enter the twittersphere yet though…
Yes Ian – people have been frightfully reasonable.
I see you’ve decided to dip your toe back in…
Ha Ha (just saw the last sentence of your post). I have had so many “retweets” adn “DMs” from that tweet – which points to a joke post from The Onion. Next time I tweet a joke I will have to include “this is a joke” in it, as most people seem to think it is me stating that and not the web page I am linking to saying it.
PS Frank – those people who are all over the various social networks – if they are like me, they aren’t, but they have either set it up or have had it set up for them and can’t work out how to switch off, that anything they do on (say) their blog automatically exports to zillions of other platforms (FB, Twitter, FF etc. I suppose it is a system a bit similar to a scientist who has a paper accepted by Nature, which not only triggers an export into our journal production system but into a manuscript depository such as PubMedCentral, albeit at a more “micro” and trivial scale.
howls of laughter. Brilliant, Maxine. Thanks for explaining it :)
@Maxine – I would never accuse you of having a one-track mind; I know your interests are many and varied! But I couldn’t resist the temptation of that particular tweet… ;-)
I think I have deliberately linked my twitter, friendfeed and facebook accounts. Seems the only way to ensure connection with most of my likely audience, though it does add to internet clutter. I suppose things will become more streamlined as these social networks duke it out. Witness the impending demise of MySpace…?
@ Svetlana: Oh, procrastination!
I keep meaning to procrastinate – it’s on my ‘to-do’ list, honest – but I just can’t seem to get round to it.
Stephen – well I see you everywhere, admittedly sometimes yellow and sometimes green – but certainly everywhere so it does seem to be working. My main problem is Facebook where I seem to only be able to have everything autoposting twice or not at all.
On my tweet – sigh, obviously I am too young and silly for twitter as everyone on it seems to take things so seriously ;-)
Maxine – thanks for the mention, but actually I find twitter is usually my antidote for not having time to blog — I am fairly active on twitter (when I’m in the US and/or have wireless connectivity) and also try to keep a few twitter tags going so I can connect with others at the various conferences and things I attend – also interesting after to see what people twittered about my talks (this week at #icwe2009) and such (not always flattering, but feedback is useful) – I find when I have only a short time free, or am only “partly engaged” that twittering keeps me amused — so in essence I use twittering for those times I don’t have time to blog, and I blog when I get to relatively stable environs where there isn’t much to twitter — so don’t take it as something you must do – thing of it as diving into the stream of human conciousness when time permits…
arrgh, cannot edit comments (or at least haven’t figured out how) – Stephen, the above was addressed to you, not Maxine, I forgot to cut before the paste and hit submit before I realized
- hmm, maybe that says something about using blogs and twitters as “citable” mentions :)’Fraid you cannot edit comments, Jim.
I totally agree with your analysis – Twitter is certainly no replacement for blogging but is a good way of keeping your hand in when — as so often — there isn’t time to compose a decent post.
think of it as diving into the stream of human conciousness when time permits…
That was certainly in evidence last night when news of Michael Jackson’s collapse and death leaked out. I got the first oblique hint of it on Twitter from my brother and it was amazing to see the ebb and flow of hashtags as the rumour-mill worked up to max speed (CPR, Pop, RIP Michael Jackson etc). There was a tremendous outpouring of shock and grief and good wishes. Twitter certainly provides a novel kind of public access.
Phew, glad I missed all that, Stephen! ;-)