I’m nostalgic.
When I started on Twitter it was about talking with my online friends from the US. It was about having deep debates. Someone would ask a question or share a link and many would reply. We used to have long talks between five or six people. It was good conversation.
Well, the conversation is dead.
Nobody is listening anymore, nobody is replying anymore, and everyone’s talking more than ever.
At some point earlier today, my stream showed 37 tweets with links in a row. Thirty-seven. Not one engagement.
I’m going to venture a guess on why this happened (and there’s no turning back):
Deaf Success
Success and deafness are positively correlated.
I’m not saying that my friends and I have all succeeded, but most of us have become more popular in the last year or so. More popularity means more people talking to you. The paradox here is that the more you connect, the more you ignore (that’s why I consciously keep my reciprocal relationships limited).
In other words, the more people you talk to, the less you talk to each of them. Unless you are broadcasting (not that there’s anything wrong with that).
Are you broadcasting?
Take It Outside
Most real one-on-one conversations between my friends and I happens outside of Twitter. But I still miss the debates and multiple conversations that used to happen inside.
Utilitarian Networking
Each new generation of social media users is usually the most active when it comes to conversation. Every six months or so, you see new bloggers join the scene and start engaging others aggressively and building their own networks. The thing is that once the utility of that network plateaus, people stop spending time in it.
We are utilitarians, which is great for business but sucks for friendships.
Conclusion
If there’s an entrepreneur out there that’s looking for a good business opportunity, then this is it. I want a tool that focuses regularly on conversations with people that are not necessarily friends, with less noise and limitations. And if this tool already exists, please let me know which is it, because Twitter doesn’t work for that anymore.
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That’s cool that you when and did a post on this. You were just telling me I think yesterday about it. I see your point more clearly now. It’s to bad that there really is not much conversation going on anymore just pure noise it seems.
Gracias hermano por las ideas porque no creamos una nueva plataforma que tu crees?
La posibilidad está, pero personalmente no tengo el conocimiento ni el tiempo disponible ahora mismo para encarar una empresa tan titánica
AGREED.
Have you checked the percentage of your @replies? Mine are hovering at around 70%, which is a ten percent drop from last year. Most people have simply run out of issues, or lack any depth regarding the ones they do discuss.
Perhaps you should mix up your followers?
I engage less now because people yell more. Like I said, it’s constant link broadcasting, I’m not gonna read all of them.
140 characters is way too little space to have a real conversation. I prefer to broadcast and have “conversations” on blogs, email, etc. when it comes to using technology….
Exactly my point
Twitter is a tool and it’s not working anymore for what I was using it for…
Also, you are one of the few people that consciously use it to broadcast. I’m trying to wake up those that pretend they don’t.
Carlos, I’ve definitely realized a drop in conversation as well and it is truly a shame.
One option is to participate in more chats. There, at least you know people are participating for the purpose of conversation and not (usually) broadcasting. But I understand, it’s still not the same.
I know it’s partly my fault that I don’t talk with my closest connections and friends as much anymore. That’s the problem with using social media for business. You tend to focus on expanding, rather than enhancing.
C’est la Vie
Yeah, like I said, I’m nostalgic, not stubborn. We’ll move on, of course.
I think part of the change is that Twitter became popular. I joined just after the early adopters when people were still figuring out how and what to use Twitter for. It was interesting seeing everything start to develop and it was about interacting with strangers through seeing what other people were talking about and who they were talking to.
But now there’s a glut of people on there and for all the early articles claiming we were broadcasting our meals and morning schedule, I see that happening a lot more with the newer users who haven’t had to figure out the service or develop personal ways of using it. Most of the time it seems like the new bloggers are getting a crash course from an article about the value of sharing links and are missing the point instead. Or, if they get the “conversation” aspect are just making noise by discussing where to go to dinner with their roommate, who happens to be in the same room (true story).
We’re all guilty of sharing too many links or personal opinions without engaging others but it’s gone from being a small party where debate and interesting conversation was welcome, to one where it’s just too crowded and loud to hear. The louder it gets, the easier it is to want to pull away and not engage ourselves which makes our being selective in who we follow a bit pointless because we’ve all withdrawn so much.
Nothing to add, really.
Can’t wait to not meet those roommates.
Interesting — a couple things come to my mind here. One, I never liked having conversations on Twitter because it was public. I think its a place to SPARK a conversation, via link sharing, etc — but I almost always take it into private DMs, gchat, email, or in person if I’m going to see that person soon. I have occasionally even written a blog post response. I intentionally choose not to have the discussions in Twitter because I don’t like having them in a public forum, but I still have plenty of conversations that are started as a result of others sharing a link on twitter.
Like I said, for me Twitter played a different role than for most people in the US. For me it was my connection to most of you. It was how I reached to all the bloggers that I used to read and couldn’t meet in person. It was how I became “known.”
But that’s in the past now. My geographical situation is irrelevant now. I may follow your path Nisha.
I’m really tired of all these posts about how “real community” is dead on all these different tools. With all due respect to you and everyone else writing these types of posts, it’s not. Can we talk about something more interesting now? Because I would sure respond more if we weren’t just talking about social media on social media….
First of all, I don’t write about social media that much. Go ahead, check it out.
Second of all, I’m going to explain to you why people talk about social media so much in a future post. It’s not about the tools and the community, that’s not the reason. I’ll let you figure that out on your own until I write it.
Third of all, Twitter was a HUGE part of my early social media life. That’s how I connected with a lot of people. People seem to forget that I live in Buenos Aires… No Twitter for me is a big change of strategy and perspective.
It’s interesting to me that you use the word interesting. I didn’t find interesting those posts about people’s goals for each month, but I didn’t judge you for it. At least not publicly.
I think Rebecca has a point–not that we shouldn’t observe the rise and fall of trends in our various medias, but we all experience them, so we know…In my sideline participation in the twitter world, I saw more blogs turning from real life to merely the discussion of social media, blogwriting, best SEO tips, etc…
It bored me to death. Not bc the info wasn’t helpful to entrepreneurs like myself, but because everyone was writing about the same thing. Becoming a mecca for link-love didn’t do much to further my engagement. It’s like everything else in our business world: comes down to the numbers. Numbers don’t engage me, nor do pleas for link-clicking, etc… Suddenly all tweets sounded like the same overplayed song on the radio.
I feel you Carlos-I desire the closer connection, the deeper discussion. But I want to know I’m not another number for those I connect with, otherwise it’s not authentic. You’re right, the wider our circle of influence, the less focus we put on the individual (curt, semi-sentimental lines just don’t do the trick). And the more we talk, the less we listen. Social media currently seems like bunches of people screaming over each other with the same message. How fast can I take in info and throw it back out there with my spin on it?
As you said, in 6 mo, we’ll be cheering our next parade of shinynewness. That’s just not a bus I wanna ride…motion sickness.
Of course Rebecca has a point, but she expressed it horribly.
Social media or not, this post still follows my content policy: write about whatever as long as you haven’t read it somewhere else. And since I haven’t read this before, I wrote it.
This blog is not a social media blog, and anyone who follows it can agree to that. But I won’t stop talking about the interesting things that I find in social media, because that’s just what it is for me, interesting things.
I’m ranting, thanks for the comment Chelsie.
1 – Lately, you do
2 – I’ve written that post already. I didn’t publish it. It wasn’t that interesting.
3 – I’m not sure what Buenos Aires has to do w/ it. I haven’t met the majority of people I interact w/ online either.
4 – Maybe you should have. It wouldn’t have bothered me (have you seen how vigorously people disagree w/ me? It happens often
. People find value from the monthly goal meet-ups (it’s still going strong on Brazen – you can check it out). But I didn’t find it interesting enough to keep on my blog either.
It wasn’t my intention to “call you out,” just to challenge the ideas you put out there. The rest of my points Chelsie and Grace already made.
1- Only 2 posts are about social media in the home page. Not a lot.
2- Maybe your reason is wrong, or is not the only reason. Otherwise you’d understand why people do it and will keep doing it.
3- My language has to do with it. Also, you have a strong connection with two American companies, and that puts you on the map.
4- You are missing the point. Even my favorite blogs have uninteresting posts for me sometimes. You don’t bash that, you just move on IF you enjoy most of that blog’s content. If not, one leaves it.
Just because I understand why people do something and will continue to do it (happy to send you my unpublished post by the way, and wait with baited breath for yours) doesn’t mean that it’s not un-interesting, stupid or worse.
And for the record, I didn’t have strong connections with either Brazen or Alice when I started my blog. In fact, they didn’t even exist. I built my presence without those, and became involved with those companies as a result of my blogging. I put myself on the map. Brazen and Alice came second. Actually, third. My blog helped me get my previous job too. I worked my butt off in the social media space just like you’re doing. To assume otherwise is insulting.
I didn’t mean to insult you. Not my intention at all. I was clearly off with my chronological facts. But it’s still very different if you are from a country like Argentina. I had to catch up with your social media world. Don’t believe me? Read some Spanish blogs and tell me what you think. The effort that I had to do and am still doing it’s huge. I’m not gonna say that assuming that our conditions were the same since day one is insulting, but it is way off.
“Just because I understand why people do something and will continue to do it (happy to send you my unpublished post by the way, and wait with baited breath for yours) doesn’t mean that it’s not un-interesting, stupid or worse.”
It’s refreshing to hear somebody say this. I’m there with you and THIS is an argument I can get behind. But as you already know, us disagreeing with people’s motives won’t make it stop.
I just went on a Twitter purge. Not the usual “if you aren’t following me then I’m unfollowing you…waaaaaaaaah!” method that most websites recommend. Instead I went and looked at people I had @ replied to more than once that never @ replied back. And generally for me to @ reply someone they have to be engaging in conversation or asking a question (I don’t just seek out folks on Twitter.) It was super freeing to get rid of some of this “Twitter royalty” that sought me out at one point but never cared after that.
I don’t want to have huge long conversations on Twitter because, as Ben mentions, 140 characters seriously impedes conversation. And leaves far too much out for pure understanding and interpretation.
That being said I’m also a little sick of seeing link after link after link…especially knowing that people aren’t ACTUALLY reading the material they are promoting.
Nobody’s reading anything, really…
Believe me, I’ve asked, I’ve done my research.
Why do people think no one reads anything they’re promoting? I’ve seen that a couple times and save for the few people that I don’t follow, no one I know does this. Seems like a strange theory.
I definitely read EVERYTHING I promote. And I never promote something just because that person is nice to me. This is that curation that Trunk talks about, and while I don’t think she’s a great person to take advice from either, she does know this kind of stuff well. Successful people (brands) won’t promote things that are crap because it dilutes their brand, and they know that. Ramit Sethi is a good example of this, and if you’ve ever had a negotiation w/ him, you learn this immediately. Sethi promotes the heck out of stuff, but it’s all quality curated specifically for his audience (which he knows well).
I didn’t mean what one promotes. I meant what others do. Translation: nobody reads most of the stuff that others promote.
I don’t agree with that either. For someone who so optimistically desires a certain kind of experience on Twitter, you’re pretty pessimistic
Or realistic? People confuse those two quite often.
Twitter hasn’t changed overtime. It’s still the same tool, you can use it as you please, there are about 3-4 functions (DM, @reply, share a link, RT) that EVERYONE uses and the way you use it, is what’s different.
I firmly believe, there isn’t a wrong way to use Twitter. There are ways that I might look down upon, but then again, I don’t have to follow you. Just like you don’t have to follow those that create ‘noise’ or ‘broadcast.’ It sounds like you miss the debate or the nostalgia when you first got on Twitter back then, but Twitter wasn’t any different back then, you were (and those people who have changed you are thinking of).
This is why you can choose to follow people or not. It’s odd to reprimand people for their choice in how they tweet because although it might not work for you, it can work for many people and I still think of it as a powerful tool (where I have met the likes of you)
and many other amazing people. Twitter isn’t just for entrepreneurs looking for a business opportunity and since I started, I never had real conversations on Twitter. They were sparked on Twitter, then taken somewhere else where we could really continue the conversation (beyond 140 characters).
As always Carlos, good thoughts.
Of course it’s a tool. I’m saying that for the way I used it all along, it’s not working anymore. For others uses, it’s the same thing it always was.
Again, and I should have probably said something on the post, people should consider where I come from and the importance Twitter had for me in the beginning.
Key point: “I’m saying that for the way I used it all along, it’s not working anymore. For others uses, it’s the same thing it always was.”
Maybe I missed that part or you didn’t actually say it in those words, but the way you used it is now not working anymore. However, I also ask, are you not connecting with people on Twitter anymore? I agree, Twitter is a great early developmental tool for beginning bloggers/social media’ers but I’m STILL connecting with amazing people, even though who I was when I joined is different today.
I definitely recognize and know where you’re from and I distinctively remember meeting you on Twitter. We wouldn’t be here now if it weren’t for Twitter and those early interactions
I still appreciate that.
I don’t connect with people as much as I used to because I know that even though it may feel like it’s no big deal, the more people I connect with, the less engaging I’ll be with each of them.
I’d rather have a small group of people that I talk to often than a lot of people that aren’t really more than occasional replies.
I may be wrong, of course, but I’d rather stick to that. Heck, there would be no Untemplater in my life if I wouldn’t have focused so much on developing the relationship with few people instead of many.
Full on brotha. Smaller group, more depth. Wasn’t hating on your post AT ALL-just found myself in the same mentality at the same time. This happens often, btw.
I examine social media too-discussing it is a natural effect of that. I was referring to the niche for instruction and commentary that social media has opened (and exploited).
I second the interesting post philosophy. It’s your blog-do with it what you will. I think plenty of us enjoy seeing your path unfold. Especially when our paths coincidentally parallel.
I just went and looked at my feed to see who I was, what I was doing, and where I fall. Every post has an @reply in it and I truly use it for just that. I love meeting new people who are doing great things. I use it as the doorway that it is and try to bridge a true relationship to those I find that influence me and better me. Whether that be phone, skype, or in real life doesn’t matter to me and I will continue to use it in this manner. The conversation is what it is and we will just keep adjusting.
http://twitter.com/shanemacsays [my twitter feed]
Another post like no other. Keep it up my man.
-Shane Mac
Adjustment is coming. Looking forward to seeing you tonight!
Hi Carlos,
A couple of observations:
Deaf success – is bang on.
Twitter is a useful tool. It performs well, if we know what we’re looking to do with it.
My personal experience is that it’s connected me with people around the world and still brings up more interesting stuff [on a varied range of interests] than facebook or linkedin, every day.
That being said, I also think that the art of conversation is being pummeled severely, and its very noticeable on twitter.
Due to the time zone differences [India/ UK/ US] I seem to have more serendipitous conversations with friends in India; and join structured chats with some groups that have a predominantly US base.
With you my friend, we chat when a topic interests us both, inspite of the time.
At other times, I feel its best to listen and not add to the noise, if I have nothing substantial to say.
Cheers,
Anita
Yeah, I guess Twitter is the best we have for now. It connected us!
It’s pretty obvious that conversation has decreased a bit over the past year or so, but I think Twitter itself is to blame. The day open conversation died was the day Twitter took away open @ replies. I could expand my network and find incredible conversations to join by simply watching them begin between somebody I already followed and somebody new that I could connect with. That’s where the majority of my current connections come from.
As for the way things are now – The best we can do is find and create conversations. It’s hard to blame the situation on the tool when the same function exists. I do my best to create conversations based on the links people share. I still learn from many of the links and I still have the ability to strike up conversation around any topic somebody presents. The general public may use Twitter differently now than they did before, but the potential is still there for you to build and create conversations.
Also, like Spinks said – chats are built on conversation. You could easily find a relevant chat in which to participate nearly every day of the week. If it doesn’t exist, create it.
I agree with everything that you say Scott, I know that creating conversations is not a hard thing to do. What I’m saying is that the spontaneous and multiple debates with multiple people that I sed to see on Twitter are not there anymore.
1) I think this conversation is interesting.
2) If you don’t think this conversation is interesting, then why respond? Stop reading, unsubscribe, move along – inaction is the answer. The rest of us were not put on earth to be interesting to you.
3) I agree with you Carlos. Twitter is not “dead,” but it is not very useful for me anymore. I’m happy to connect with you there if you @ or DM me, but I generally don’t follow the conversation so much these days. I am back to RSS in terms of following blogs, and I regularly check my favorites by heading to their actual sites (like yours).
4) If Twitter is useful to other people, have at it. Frankly, I’m agnostic to Twitter use as long as you aren’t spamming me. Now blogging and “building community,” that’s a different story for me…
Again, I haven’t the comments but I have to say the before (Facebook) and after (Buzz) of Twitter are both less “deaf” than people on Twitter are.
Buzz may be, but I would argue that FB is as deaf as Twitter. Depends on the numbers.