But who’s actually reading all that stuff on Twitter?
I know, I know. It’s the type of question about Twitter that you’d expect to hear from your parents, or from someone who still gets their news from a newspaper. But it’s a valid question, despite (obnoxious) responses having to do with “ambient intimacy.” Equally valid in my mind is the question of who reads the articles that are so frequently forwarded as links via Twitter.
I was thinking about this the other day when I came across a post by Bob Hoffman, The Ad Contrarian, entitled “8 Recent Observations About Twitter.” Specifically, I’ve been wondering what percentage of tweets are blindly forwarded links, aimed at making the tweeter look interesting or engaged without actually forcing them to do any work. Hoffman’s relevant points are:
4. Anyone who actually reads all the tweets he gets is completely and utterly insane. I’m convinced that most people follow other people not because they’re interested in what they have to say, but in the hope that they, in turn, will be followed.
5. Twitter is far more “self-promotional media” than “social media.” There is very little about it that is actually social. In my circle, the heavy Tweeters tend to be self-employed business people — especially consultants and other entrepreneurs — directly or indirectly looking for contacts or business.
6. Also, in my circle of twits, there is far more forwarding of links than expressing of ideas.
So if he’s right, and no one’s reading all the tweets, more people are forwarding links than creating new content, and Twitter is “self-promotional media,” is Twitter the online equivalent of pushing paper around your desk all day to make yourself look busy?
One piece of evidence that I’ve been longing for is a survey in which respondents (honestly) state whether or not they read the linked articles they forward. Unable to find such a survey, I created one on LinkedIn. I phrased the question as “Before you send a Tweet with a link to an article, you usually…” A couple of hours in, I have 10 results.
So far respondents are claiming that they read carefully before forwarding a link. But I wonder whether people are willing to admit it when they don’t.
To participate in the poll, click the image or follow the link above. Then you can get back to pushing papers around your desk.
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For the record (and thanks, Rob – this was an excellent multi-dimensional exercise and poll, which I took): I try and read carefully, but Ii’s often that I just have time to skim/scan the article/link prior to forwarding.
I do think it’s a MacLuhan thing — Twitter as a technology has a “personality” (with ADD traits and attributes) — and as such, the media itself impacts and defines both the messaging and message.
So its messages are largely chatter, splatter, scattered, nothing that matters.
To be contrasted with…this blog, for instance. Which is thoughtfully written, constructed and managed — interlinked with essential contemporary communications media — consistently thought-provoking — reference-able and useful.
Hmmmm. Perhaps there’s another MacLuhan message in there.