coding for food

Twitter. It's the talk of the town. Celebrities from Shaq to LeVar Burton share their daily routines with their loyal fans on this popular micro blogging platform.  Twitter has shown up many, many Media Network included Wall Street Journal, MSNBC and other networks stating that it's becoming the biggest internet fad since Facebook. It's supposed to connect us with people that have common interests and help corporations find new customers. Obviously if you attempt to improve the business transactions, you will be improving the current economy recession. But is it really doing that? I was watching Insider Edition last night, when they started talking about how Twitter might be getting out of hand. Actor Aston Kutcher was on the news because he posted a "tweet" of a picture his wife Demi Moore naked with the message "shh Don't Tell Wifey".  David Prager, an executive over a Revision3, a Internet TV site, had a his house broken into and he "tweeted"  and "livesteamed" the whole situation. They claim that Twitter has gone way outside the originally use of product. Personally, I don't think that Twitter has gotten out of hand - I feel that it actually enhances the experience.  Anyone out there can become a someone with Twitter. It increases the ability to share your stories with everyone. However, circling back to the topic, what is it's side effects? According to this story on, over 61% of all Twitters, actually Tweet during the American work day, Monday - Friday (9-5pm). I wasn't very surprised by this study because I know a lot of my friends are non-existent on Twitter during the weekends. To me, its makes perfect sense why this it the case. Most big time blogs normally post stories during the work, and most people view their Twitter feeds to get these stories during the week.  On the weekend, you have the paper and TV. At work - you don't have that ability. Twitter gets it you fast and easy. So you keep viewing your Twitter feed, and once you see the post you like, you want to comment on it - and just like that, the Twitter obsession begins.  Similar to Facebook - you log in into Twitter and see what is going on - and then you look up and 5 hours have passed and you have no idea how that happened. So is Twitter a productivity "decreaser"? Many people think that the goal of Twitter is to connect people who share common interests. For example, if someone sends a message on Twitter saying that are looking for "Organic Foods to buy", Whole Foods could contact them suggesting items in their story to buy. That small methodology continues and Whole Foods and the person build their social network. Other people think the power of Twitter is in it's search engine ability, via the acquisition of Summarize. If you want to find out what people think about a certain topic, just search it in to the box, and you'll find out. We have all heard the stories of the people who got fired from her job for posting Facebook status message, so you know that people have no problem speaking the truth. I mean even after these events occured, people just "tweet the truth". If you search "bored at work" on Twitter, you'll get thousands of results from people. Twitter even cost a person their job for saying that they would have to mull of the options of a long commute time or a higher salary.

Personally, I feel that it does decrease the productivity of employees. You get hooked on it - you can't stop. I find myself twittering useless information, not because I want to, just because I can't stop. It's very addictive.  When one of my friends Kelly, posted an interesting tweet today saying that an ecomonist saying that Twitter was the cause of economic collapse. I know your thinking - at first glance, I thought the same thing. "Twitter caused the RECESSION?! Seriously?" Of course, it wasn't the primary reason, but if you actually read the article, you'll find that it does hold some water.

I mean - the article is excellently written, but this graph above summarizes the entire story. The amount users on Twitter increase, the Dow Jones decreases - a lot. Twitter is a tool to be used for internal communication, however you try to use it, you will get distracted and perform less quality work. Less quality of work, fewer profits for the company. Fewer profits, fewer jobs, and so-on and so-on. The line between social networks and corporate use is starting to fade, but the way internal employees use their social networking isn't blurring at all.  Social networks in the corporate environment are to be used to communicate about work, but people are still using the social network features as they would at home. If a company incorporates an Instant Messaging client, people will talk to their co-workers about non-related work stuff - it's just the nature of the beast. But how should these companies use social networks? Through training, planning, and design. Find out ways to connect better INTERNALLY and not externally. When this has been accomplished, the way we think about social networks at "work" will change. It will become a part of the regular job, and build relationships between employees, instead of creating individual silos. So do I think Twitter is the main reason for the Recession? No - but it is causing some wear and tear on our society. The notion that people have be informed of every change in the world upon the second it occurs is wearing our productivity thin.  Some people claim that the Twitter/Facebook revolution is just a fad and will pass soon - but I beg to differ. Twitter is the Model-T of the 21st century - it's just the beginning.