A colleague sent me links to two good articles from Harvard Business Publishing about Twitter. The first article is from an unabashed fan; the second suggests it’s just a fad.
I remember when Twitter first appeared on the scene, wondering to myself “Who in the world would voluntarily subject themselves to that?!” Why would anyone want to delve into the minutia of anyone else’s life; why do I care what you’re doing right now?
So sure, I’m surprised that Twitter has been around three years now, and that it’s still growing in popularity. People are finding ways to make it relevant to their lives, useful. Yes, there’s a fad component to it, especially now that politicians who want to demonstrate their tech savvy are on the bandwagon, now that Kutcher and Oprah are making headlines with it.
People make the web work for what they want. Some stuff sticks, some fades away. That’s one of the things I love about working in this field. I would expect Twitter or some evolutionary derivative to be an enduring part of the digital landscape. I’d suggest that something tweet-ish will be around, will continue to evolve, and will be something we’ll pay attention to at UTMB.