Twitter...Revolutionary or Delusionary?

Let me first admit that I've not given Twitter a real walk through. I only just signed up for the service today and because of some issues on their end, couldn't try out the IM portion of the service at all. Yet, after a day of toying with it, I am at a loss to explain some of the reactions I'm coming across.

I just don't get it. I want to. I really do. But I just don't.

Colleagues, including some of the smartest thinkers in the world of enterprise software, are speaking of this like it's a major breakthrough. We have been discussing this amongst the EIs and here are some of the discussion points that have come to the forefront:

Dennis Howlett blogs: At a 500+ yard distance, the Twitterised landscape resembles semi-organised chaos. My sense is that the Pavlov Dog reaction to systematize everything we do is so pervasive that the disruption services like Twitter represent seriously challenge our ability to change. Even those that believe the current crop of technologies can foster change are wary.

Anshu Sharma says: [Update: Anshu was clearly being tongue-in-cheek in our chat about this, it may not be clear in the context of this blog post] In the enterprise world, we would call this (Twitter) "Event Driven Architecture" or some such lame term. And Apollo app would be called a Business Activity Monitoring Dashboard. Imagine if your shipments could twitter where they are and then your plasma tv screen in the office, should the patterns by how many dots lit up with what color. Twitter is EDA & BAM for human beings at 1 millionth the cost. When RFID and sensor based computing grows up, it should look like this perhaps.

Jeff Nolan thinks I'm missing the difference between "twittering" and using Twitter: In a way its like an iPod- there were always services that you could use to serve this need but its sometimes easier to learn a new 'service' and use it in a new way then to relearn a new way of using the same service. What I am trying to say is - you can twitter (as in the verb) with IM or SMS but most people didn't know that twittering was fun/useful/possible. Twitter as in a noun or technology is stale but twittering is new! That's why we are learning to twitter, not learning how to use Twitter.

I hear what they are saying, as well as the deluge of positivity I'm getting from others. Yet, I have never felt more confused by the disconnect between my view of the service versus what seems to be the consensus view by people I generally respect.

I feel like the technology-focused blogosphere has succumbed to mass hallucination.

So I ask you all, am I missing the boat here? Is Twitter revolutionary? or Delusionary?

twitter enterprise irregulars innovation woodrow

Comments

[Susan Scrupski]

Hey Jason, I've just started the Twitter thing too. It's a novelty right now, but I have to admit, it's just plain fun. Part voyeuristic, part true engaged community... it offers a different, more casual way to interact with people you respect. You get bit stream of personality data all day long, plus it provides a continuous stream of learning.

[Dennis Howlett]

Jason - I am partially with you on this. I'm realizing that to date what I've really wanted to do is use these media in a well controlled fashion. Heck - I'm enterprisey after all! Twitter challenges that in a kind of brute force way. That's scary. Even so, I AM finding business use cases.

[Joe Tao]

Twitter is up to you, it could be either, depending on your ability.

As for me, it is revolutionary, it has put me in touch with people that I have not had such instant access to before. It gives me an edge and has already exposed me to opportunities that had not existed before twitter.

The ability to add anyone to your friends list is where the mani jewel can be found by those with the intuition to do so in an informed way.

Alas though, some people don't get it and will miss the boat entirely.

[Anshu Sharma]

"In the enterprise world, we would call this (Twitter) "Event Driven Architecture" or some such lame term...." was supposed to be tongue in cheek. After all if you see what FedEx and Wal-mart do today with packages and shipments, it would put Twitter and many a web2.0 apps to great shame.