Twitter and Work

Jack and Suzie (Welch), in their Business Week column, report that they now tweet.

How sweet.

They don’t know exactly why they do what they do but assure us: Just try and you will find out.

More and more otherwise reasonable people seem to be using Twitter, not knowing exactly why they do. Could  it be that they are just afraid being left out? But left out of what?

On my visit to UCLA, I had a conversation about this phenomenon with my co-author and friend, Professor Shi Zhang. We concluded that maybe some day soon there will be a counter-movement that stresses that it is cool to work again—and not waste time.

Comments

[John Caddell]

Prof. Schmitt,

Given your focus on innovation, I would think you would be less hard on people trying Twitter "not knowing exactly why they do." Many emergent platforms work this way. They appear, people learn by trying them, and all sorts of interesting new uses emerge. (One recent example: blogging.)

I could imagine the same snarky comment you make - needing a counter-movement where "it's cool to work again, not to waste time" - could have been made about an administrative assistant 25 years ago, waiting at the fax machine for a transmission to go through, rather than simply putting the letter in the post.

It's clear that you don't understand Twitter or how it could be useful. Fine. But I expect more from a strategy guru than insulting people who are trying to make use of this new tool.

John (twitter: @jmcaddell)

[Monica Hamburg]

Hi Bernd, old pal :)

I guess my surprise is that people don't know exactly why they would be using Twitter - given that there's a slew of information available on this here internet.

I actually see many businesses and consultants integrating Twitter into the way they work - and in establishing contact with their customer base and potential clients - among other things.

Just a few examples: http://delicious.com/mhamburg/twitter+business
Cheers,
Monica Hamburg
@monicahamburg

[Li]

My firend says he tweets bacause it is a way to keep pace with the world: you do what others do, so get a sense of what's going on around you. I suppose this reflects many twitters' intention of tweeting, at least at the beginning.

[Cool guy!]

Dear Prof.
We always look forward to a word of advise from wise people. Old days, it used to be sitting around them and listening, later we had radios and now we have tweets and blogs.

What tweet offers compared to other tools is succinct and interesting thought (if it comes from people like J Welch). Rather than opposing the force, I'll say we should find to educate people to tweet effectively.

It's not a band wagon; one can hop-on anytime. And there is no going back. Let's synergize the force, not oppose it.
Cheers! :-)