I’m sorry if you landed here thinking this was going to be a helpful explanation about what Twitter is. I’ve given up on attempting to explain Twitter. And chances are, if you’re someone who wants to understand something by reading about it instead of using it, then you’ll probably never understand it.
Twitter is really easy to explain: You set up an account so people can follow what you have to say via the web or instant messaging or via text-messaging on a mobile phone. Unfortunately, Twitter is apparently incredibly difficult to understand, because any time I explain it, the response is inevitably something like: “Uh, so why would you want people to do that — and why would they care?”
Unlike with some online phenomena, understanding Twitter is not a “generational” thing. Twitter is not one of those fads that caught on among kids that has worked its way up the age-chain. It’s more like Google, in that it started as a drop-dead simple solution to a problem no one knew they had — and has become an obsession with a sub-set of tech-geeks and people obsessed with the nature of online community and conversation (I confess).
My then 16-year-old son was with me last March at South by Southwest where Twitter first grabbed the attention of the geekorati. He observed the obsession’s ground-zero, but I’m sure he’d echo the quote from the daughter of this NY Times columnist, who says, “I’m looking at the site right now, and I don’t get the point.” Here’s my theory why teenagers don’t get the point: There’s a feature on Facebook called “status updates” that does everything a teenager would care to do with Twitter, so why bother? To high school and college students, Twitter is like Facebook without the dozens of other things they like about Facebook — except on Facebook, your parents can’t follow you if you don’t allow them to. (You can block someone on Twitter or opt to limit the visibility of your message to only those you follow, but the common practice is to allow anyone to become a follower — really, why not?)
I’d feel worse about my inability to convey to others any level of understanding of why Twitter is important but in comparison to some explanations I’ve seen and heard, I do a decent job. But, unfortunately, we all fail because we drift into explaining Twitter by telling how we use it. But the most amazing thing about Twitter is this: everyone uses it differently.
It’s a little like trying to explain the telephone by describing what people talk about on the phone. “Telephones are devices that teenagers use to spread gossip.” “Telephones are the devices people use to contact police when bad things happen.” “Telephones are the devices you use to call the 7-11 to ask if they have Prince Albert in a can.”
Like the Internet itself, Twitter is hard to explain because it doesn’t really have a point. And it has too many points. Here’s what I mean: All it does is provide a common-place to relay short messages to a group of people who agree to receive your messages. Here’s the second part of what i mean: When you stop thinking those short messages aren’t limited to “I’m about to get on the elevator” but can be eye-witness accounts of breaking news stories or bursts of business-critical intelligence, or warnings that a gun-man is loose on campus, or shared conversations about political debates you and your friends are watching on TV, the possibilities of what can be done using Twitter becomes amazingly confusing — I think in a good way. It’s easy to understand something when you think it’s limited to Prince Albert in a can prank calls. It’s more difficult to understand when you start imagining the ways something that’s today more toy than tool can be used to create new models of communication, conversation and community. It’s even more difficult to imagine that something called Twitter will morph into a serious business platform — or that it will one day save lives. But it will.
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February 14th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
Brilliant!
February 15th, 2008 at 10:29 am
Twitter is the new communication culture
February 15th, 2008 at 10:31 am
The kids are all right.
February 15th, 2008 at 10:36 am
Very interesting. I interviewed a bunch of digital natives last week about various tools they used - and none of them had heard of twitter. I tried to track down some demographics re: age and use of Twitter, wondering if Twitter was a generational thing in terms of “middle aged” users. Seems like it comes down to tasks and motivation to use .. not age.
video interview and blog post here:
http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2008/02/digital-natives.html
February 15th, 2008 at 11:01 am
[…] Rex Hammock tries to explain Twitter which is virtually impossible to do, but he does a pretty good job of it. Like the Internet itself, Twitter is hard to explain because it doesn’t really have a point. And it has too many points. Here’s what I mean: All it does is provide a common-place to relay short messages to a group of people who agree to receive your messages. Here’s the second part of what i mean: When you stop thinking those short messages aren’t limited to “I’m about to get on the elevator” but can be eye-witness accounts of breaking news stories or bursts of business-critical intelligence, or warnings that a gun-man is loose on campus, or shared conversations about political debates you and your friends are watching on TV, the possibilities of what can be done using Twitter becomes amazingly confusing — I think in a good way. […]
February 15th, 2008 at 11:03 am
I could not agree with you more. Thank you for such a great written piece!
February 15th, 2008 at 11:24 am
[…] For those who don’t get Twitter- you probably won’t. (EV we are still working on that blackjack game.) I’d feel worse about my inability to convey to others any level of understanding of why Twitter is important but in comparison to some explanations I’ve seen and heard, I do a decent job. But, unfortunately, we all fail because we drift into explaining Twitter by telling how we use it. But the most amazing thing about Twitter is this: everyone uses it differently. […]
February 15th, 2008 at 11:34 am
I’m amazed you connected “Prince Albert in a can” jokes with Twitter. You’re a generational bridge.
February 15th, 2008 at 11:50 am
[…] I got a long email today from a Very Smart Person who asked, in effect “What is Twitter for? I don’t get it.” Coincidentally, Rex Hammock posted a good answer yesterday, albeit with a bad title that I won’t repeate. The essence was: … the most amazing thing about Twitter is this: everyone uses it differently. […]
February 15th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
What’s a twitter?
February 15th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
I like twitter, but it took me a while to get it. It would be great to be able to tweet separately with multiple “groups” (for lack of a better word). Maybe you can and I haven’t figured it out. I guess you could use different names, but that’s not the best option.
February 15th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
Thank you all day for this post. I need a category of ultimate tweet for it.
February 15th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
OK, what’s a Twitter in 140 characters or less? I just can’t read more than a tweet’s worth. Tweet!
February 15th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
Great post!
I agree, Twitter’s hard to explain in general terms, but I’m having more and more success when I can give individuals a specific example of how Twitter would be useful to them. If you work at a non-profit, I tell you about the Frozen Pea Fund. If you’re a programmer, I point out that you can slap your problem PHP code up on PasteBin.com, tweet the link, and get at least a few other PHP gurus to take a peek. If you’re new to town, Twitter tracking is a great way to meet locals. And so on.
I combined a number of these examples into a blog post here: http://ohtwitter.com/blog/just-what-is-twitter/
Just today, someone in Seattle needed a ride to the tow truck yard, and I saw their tweet and was able to help out. Didn’t quite save a life, but I agree, it’s only a matter of time — if it hasn’t happened already.
February 22nd, 2008 at 9:51 pm
[…] Specifically for my friends Rubin & Reuben, but for anyone else who still doesn’t get Twitter, Rex Hammock tells you Twitter is something you’ll never understand, so stop trying. […]
March 5th, 2008 at 11:43 pm
[…] Rex Hammond @ Rexblog - Twitter is something you’ll never understand, so stop trying. ‘Nuff said. […]
April 10th, 2008 at 11:03 am
[…] technology people I know have said to me they “don’t get Twitter.” I understand. I’ve even written here that nobody “gets Twitter.” And that’s one of the things about it that I find so […]
May 1st, 2008 at 5:09 pm
[…] I’ve blogged here before, I’ve given up on trying to explain Twitter. I know how I use it and why I like it. But, as […]
May 13th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
[…] to explain Twitter to the non-user has become something like the tech world’s Arthurian challenge, a seemingly […]