Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Twitter Use For Geo Pros: The Good and the Bad

I have used Twitter for about a year now and have 225 followers. I started using it in a professional capacity, trying to learn from and connect with people in the geosphere. I work in a technical capacity professionally but don't really consider myself a bleeding edge techie or a gadget for gadget sack kind of person. Basically, what can help me do my job better. Anyhow, after a year of use, I feel I am credibly positioned to give a critique on its effectiveness and usefulness for geopros.

I have tried to keep my opinions truly objective. I have received a fare amount of grief by a variety of people in my life regarding its use. My "traditional" colleagues think I'm nuts. Others just don't understand. My favorite line is "What's with this Twitter crap". My wife quivers each time that annoying Tweetdeck chirp chatters from my laptop sitting in my home office (make sure to turn that off). Given this disclosure, here is my take:

The Good
  1. If you want to learn about stuff fast, Twitter is the best. Anything, I mean anything, that you may be interested in, is posted to Twitter first. Here's the trick, you have to follow the right people (and finding those people can be easy I guess) . Examples of this stuff includes:
    • The latest release of your favorite software,
    • What colleagues are up to (that very instant)
    • What people are saying at any given public venue (conferences, press conferences, etc...)
    • Attending events such as conferences remotely
    • What's new with... (you name it)
    • Personal opinions about... (you name it)
  2. What government agencies are up to: The current federal administration has embraced social media which has resonated with many state and local governments. Using Twitter is a good way to keep track of what is going on within your government.
  3. Support: I recently posted a question to Twitter about a problem I was having with ArcGIS Server. An expert engineer (thanks @keyurva) working for ESRI, replied instantly to help. I can't imagine how long it would have taken via a formal incident request.
  4. Networking: I have virtually met a number of people that I never would have met otherwise. In some cases, these virtual relationships have lead to real ones. An example relates to my part-time role as a faculty member at a local University. Using Twitter, I was able to pursue a potential guest lecture from a great individual (thanks @agup). In addition, staying connected is much easier and quicker, granted without alot of detail but in a networking setting, it is better than the alternative.
  5. Data Mining: I use TweetDeck which is a pretty good tool (UberTwitter remotely). With TweetDeck, I can mine a tone of info with little effort. I swear I am observing the Matrix:-).
The Bad
  1. Continuity: I have followed alot of people who have been great but, eventually abandon their Twitter persona. I can relate to this because it takes a bit of work to continue posting, you have to buy in a bit. Also, it is easy to think this is the coolest thing when you start and then that thought fades. You fire up your account and tweet like crazy and then your.....tweets.......start............to..............slow...................down................................until...
  2. I will be honest here, it is a bit narcissistic and it can kind of turn into a popularity contest if you let it. "How many followers can I get." It shouldn't be about this but we are all human. We need validation. However, if you are tweeting from your kids birthday party, the dinner table, or tweet more that lets say 15 or maybe 20 times a day (I would say less but...), you might want to lay off. Just my opinion. (Quick tip: if you want alot of followers, just tweet about different stuff, sports, religion, hobbies, politics, etc).
  3. Data Mining: This is a benefit and a curse. While there is alot of data and information to mine and some tools do a better job than others, alot of it is still nonsense.
  4. There are many more people within professional circles not using it than are. Sure within some communities (techies, developers, etc) the use is higher but I was recently at the ESRI PUG conference and during the plenary, the presenter asked who was using Twitter. I would estimate the maybe 10% of the crowd of 1200 attendees raised their hands. Just one anecdotal example.
  5. It seems to be lacking in security. I have noticed a few accounts I follow have been "defaced." 3 out of 225 is pretty bad.
  6. Is this going to continue? Whats next? Am I wasting my time? I'm not in tune with the future of Social Networking so I will leave that up to those who are.
P.S. I said I was going to try and keep this objective but I can't help myself. For professional networking, Twitter and LinkedIn are great but to me, FB is cramming a square peg into a round hole. I can't stand the FB UI and think it is best left to "Johnny just cut his first tooth" and "I just made the biggest..."