[LINK] USDAFoodSafety is using Twitter.

[Stilgherrian]

On 30/03/2009, at 6:36 PM, grove at zeta.org.au wrote:
> But the reality is somewhere a line has to be drawn where
> you can only really get on top of some of the branches in
> technology, not all.
>
> I guess what has happened is I've had to forgo the commodity
> user experience as I take on the high end - I don't mean to
> sound snobbish but that is the only way I can describe it.
> It all eats just too many cycles... [snip]
>
> Twitter and social networking etc is just something I can't
> put those extra cycles into, when I already have a full online
> life and a real one too ;)

I find this interesting. I think it confuses the activity (staying in  
touch with the people and organisations which matter to you) with the  
tool (social networking, Twitter etc).

As an analogous statement....

"Typing and word processing are things I just can't put those extra  
cycles into, when I already have a full day of writing."

The new tools are precisely what enable you to "do more" in the  
limited time (cycles) you have available.

Yes, it takes time to learn the new tool, and that's time on top of  
your existing commitments -- at least until you see the savings from  
using the new tool. Now obviously there's a "business case" here. Will  
the time saved or the efficiencies gained outweigh the cost of  
learning the new way of doing things? For some people, for some  
circumstances, for some tools or methods, the answer will obviously be  
"No". So stay with what you're doing.

That first sentence from me single out Twitter, but only because it  
happens to be the trigger-word in this discussion. That specific  
messaging service may or may not be relevant in a year, or two, or  
five, or ten, or fifty. But the people whose job or hobby it is to  
explore the bleeding edge are reporting that Something Special is  
happening with this one. I agree with them, for many reasons. I'm NOT  
a bleeding-edge adopter (by their standards), and yet this Twitter  
thing has become an integral part of my workflow. And I think most  
linkers will agree I tend to the... cynical.

Stil


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