Why Twitter is far from ‘pointless’
Ricky Gervais quit "pointless" Twitter. Image: see below
Yesterday I wrote a story for the Guardian about Ricky Gervais quitting Twitter, branding the site as "pointless" and the adults who use it "undignified".
The article has however illustrated why Twitter is more powerful than pointless, especially for the media. The story did ridiculously well on the site- it was the most viewed news story of the day on the site and received 250 comments (not all positive I must say, my favourite: "an utterly rubbish story").
Part of the reason for the success of the article, which admittedly is far from groundbreaking journalism, promotion on Twitter. It was linked to by several of the Guardian's Twitter feeds, including Guardian Tech, which has over 1.5m followers. In turn these tweets were retweeted, leading to over 600 people linking to the story on Twitter.
It is too easy to exaggerate the effects of Twitter. For example, in practice it has not yet significantly changed the engagement of voters with politicians. However, it can be a useful tool. It is a shame that Gervais did not follow anyone on his account, he might have found out that it is great for two way communication as well as self-promotion. But if he doesn't think it is for him, fair enough.
January 17th, 2010 - 08:31
I think that you make some good points here. The Twitter account of Mr Gervais is revealing. A half a dozen tweets over less than a month. No followers. Yet someone has created over 240 lists – a process that is not easy and takes time and discernment. The tone of the tweets appears disinterested – and focused on – ‘follow my blog’. Twitter is a great way to encourage people to follow your blog. This all suggests to me that he was not personally engaged with Twitter.
Different people need different things from Twitter I suppose. An interesting point is he tells us that he is joining Twitter because of a requirement to tweet during the Golden Globes on January 17th. So I reckon he never personally engaged. What has attracted so much interest is the rude way in which he left the room. Because he is so funny and I guess this behavior is his stock in trade we should easily forgive him. He just doesn’t get it. The reality is that Twitter is an exciting new medium and that it or something like it will be a key part of the way we communicate in the future – I agree – far from pointless.