Twitter: Time Waster or Boon?
I have received a number of requests via a twitter account I setup but never used. One of my heroes, Ed Yourdon is very high on twitter.   From my glance Twitter is pretty much broadcast txt messages to people that “follow.”
But my own observation, as I participated in a Webex I couldn’t help but notice the regular, trivial, annoying comments on the presenter’s screen. I asked him what that was and found it was tweets from Twitter. Neither the audience nor the presenter could have cared less about the information (one was something about the sender getting ice cream or something as I recall.)  So I dismissed Twitter as an annoyance.
Then I started seeing people possibly useful information.  For example I was asked to provide a Tweet containing project management wisdom. The organizer has asked 140 people to provide 140 character or less twits. He believes the result will be a Twitter book.Â
And I have seen some information providers offering to be followed via Twitter.  I still haven’t started using my Twitter account. But I am having dinner with Ed Yourdon soon. Perhaps I will be converted afterwards.
What do you all think of tweets on estimating? Or project planning?Â
How about your project team being updated via tweets? (hold the ice cream)
Update June 2009
I have been using twitter for some time now. I have mixed feelings. On one hand I see a lot of interesting content I would otherwise miss. The most bizarre was a blog post from another of my blogs “Krav Maga from a novice” THe post came from some unknown Krav Maga student. It covered a topic I just wrote about so I was thrilled to open the blog and read it. What a surprise when I found the Krav Maga student had sent out a tweet about MY blog entry and pointed to my BLOG. I suppose I should be flattered that my content was being distributed as it was. But it was really only a draft.
Â
I find looking at it once per day keeps me from getting weighted down with the details people post.  ANd when we have a big earthquake I went to twitter to get the most up to the minute reports.
I think it is worthwhile but I can see it becoming a distraction if not managed.
Thank you for reading “Dan on Estimating”, if you would like more information about Galorath’s estimation models, please visit our contact page or call us at +1 310 414-3222.
Related posts:
Comments
6 Responses to “Twitter: Time Waster or Boon?”
Leave a Reply
No, we’re not having dinner next week — it’s the week after next….
Ed
THis is a subject that has spawned a great deal of discussion. Start with this thought: twits are another communications medium. They are used for broadcasting short textual mesages. Deciding whether using Twitter is worthwhile is a bit like asking, “Are phone conversations worthwhile?” Clearly, many teenagers have for 50 years used the phone for long, inane conversations while for business, the phone is indispensable. A similar range of uses exist for twitting.
OK..After my dinner with Ed I have started using Twitter.
twitter name galorath
blog entry titles are automatically broadcast there.
And I will add other information.
We will determine the viability
From Ed Yourdon via Twitter…. Recommendation for an article on Twitter in Business
yourdon”Using Twitter for Business Information & Advice”; useful article – http://bit.ly/jDZgr
I have been using Twitter in earnest for the past week… The good news is I have learned a number of significant nuggets. The bad news is I don’t see how threads work (like they do in email) and cant always identify context.
Also, adding the desktop program Tweetdeck has made it all usable for me. Replies are separated from general Tweets. And I can see my own and anything I search on.
WARNING… TWITTER MALWARE
Now people are doing twitter “follows”, and including a malware link in their profile. So when you go check who they are you can get some unpleasant surprises.
Install finjan to get warnings of malware on twitter.