I was a casual Twitter user until recently. Spent the past 5 days in SXSW Interactive, I gained new insights in collective geek talks; had true appreciation to iPhone; and finally, experienced the awesome power of Twitter.
Guy Kawasaki expressed his Twitter addiction during his interview with Chris Anderson. It raised my curiosity in “how cool is Twitter?” Then Narisa was talking about some Twitter techniques she wanted to try out – operators, hashtags, abbreviation, tiny urls…
So I tried it out myself. I sent out a short snip to share a graphic note created during Tony Hsiesh’s keynote at SXSW. My twitt was picked up by SXSW Insider Guide. In matter of minutes, I had 12 new followers (and still counting). I was unprepared with this sudden rush of fame. I felt exposed but the same time amazed by the engagement of twitter community.
And here comes the dilemma. I can either twitt like having conversation with a friend, or twitt as if communicating with the tool. Most of my friends are new to Twitter and will be turned off by the nearly robotic twitting style. The operator-enhanced twitt will surely maximize social networking value, but the human side of social networking is lost. Being able to connect and being part of the more fluent Twitter community takes social networking to a different level. There seems to be a split personalities in the styles of communication in Twitter.
Living in the Seattle area, Smelly is a user experience designer by day, a running, cycling, gardening type of girl when she wasn't wearing the designer hat.
