My Week Away from Twitter
On Monday September 8th, 2008 I shut down TweetDeck , resolving not to open it again for a week.
I had enough of Twitter.
Anyone that follows me or has read any of my posts, either here or elsewhere on the web, will probably find this odd. In general, I can be seen as a Twitter fanboy.
What had upset me so much that I shut Twitter down?
I had a severe meltdown that Monday, and the cause was the negativity spewing from my Twitter feed combined with outside stressors.
At 2:17 on the 8th I tweeted:
Midway through the first day I noticed a difference in my mind state, and I decided to stick with my week absence from my favorite social media platform. I saw it as a social experiment. I wanted to find out how the absence of social media, which Twitter largely represents to me, would effect me in my personal and professional life.
The Cons
There were plenty of negatives involved in my week away from Twitter.
I largely felt disconnected.
I utilize Twitter as:
1)A feed reader – Often reading blog posts and articles tweeted by those I trust
2)Instant Messages– I often find it easier, and less obtrusive to communicate over Twitter, since individuals do not feel that they need to respond immediately. It also allows for group messaging and discussion
3)Market Survey – Bouncing ideas off my followers for posts and work
Without these functions of my Twitter feed I reverted to emails, instant messages, and my feed reader. The problem is that since I do not utilize these channels as much, or in the same way as Twitter, they fell flat. And the repercussion was often a feeling of disconnection.
I also utilize my Twitter feed:
1)To draw in blog traffic since my Twitter feed is currently older and more subscribed to than my blog
2)To build links
3)To share general information about Search & Social, Scary SEO, and other projects
I tried to utilize email to do some of this heavy lifting, but the channel did not work out. In general, I had a pretty weak 7 days of blog traffic, and social media signal.
Pros
One big Pro was productivity.
I saw a huge jump in my productivity for the first few days of the experiment. Around Thursday the productivity slowed, because I found myself spending more time trying to find topic to blog about, and even losing a desire to blog since I couldn’t push my posts via Twitter. Also I believe that everyone needs human interaction, and my Twitter feed very much represents my virtual water cooler.
Even a week after my TweetDeck was shut down, I still feel more positive then the week before the hiatus.
Somehow Twitter has turned into a tool for negativity, and not simply sharing.
I know that social media and blogging in general trends towards rants, but the sheer amount of negativity on Twitter is staggering. Maybe it is just because life can often be overtly negative, and since we share in real time we share those negative blips. Maybe it it just because positive moments come far and few between.
No matter the reason, I found in my week away that the negativity of the channel becomes overwhelming for me.
Part of that is on me, because I am an absolutely crazy person, but talking to others I think there is a general concensus about this issue.
Isn’t Twitter’s ability to share news in real time just as capable of sharing positive news as negative?
While I wrote this blog post I let two Twitter Search feeds run for an hour. One was tracking all utterances of “FAIL” the other “FTW”. These two terms represent polar opposites in Internet jargon.
In that hour, the Twitterverse uttered “FAIL” 46 times to 29 time of “FTW”.
This is obviously a myopic, but I think it is telling.
I sat back and thought about whether the solution was simply unfollowing negative people, but upon thinking about the issue I found that even my Tweets in the past had been overtly ranty and negative. I figure the change should just start with me. I should share things like how beautiful it is living near the beach in SoFla, the great people I work with, how amazing my family is. The small FTW moments.
What I Learned
I learned that Twitter, and more generally microblogging, is truly the most useful social medium currently available. I am able to utilize it for a myriad of tasks, and I actually missed it being out of my daily routine. During this week I also put other social media platforms to the side (besides Sphinn)and I can say that Facebook and other platforms are not as missed when they are gone.
I also learned that I become emotionally invested in my social media, and that is an interesting note for myself as a marketer. Finding out effective ways to communicate with people on platforms they have an attachment to can be a strong marketing channel.
Also from this week off I have hypothesized that by sharing overtly positive moments in my feed I can break through the overtly negative feed stream and get my message across clearer. Another great lesson as a marketer.
Do I think I will become an overly rosey person now?
No.
I am who I am.
But I do think I am more conscious of my voice, and how it effects my Twitter followers.
Note: No followers were lost in the making of this post. Not yet anyway
13 Comments, Comment or Ping
Scott Clark
When I left the Silicon Valley, I complained about people popping their head in my office all the time to chit-chat. Then, working from home in KY, I missed it. Twitter had a strong draw as it somehow replaced part of that.
The other HUGE thing for me is the pre/post conference connectivity it allowed. I could mingle with people enough that we were not totally unfamiliar at SMX, etc. They could see that I knew my stuff and I could learn faces.
I’m thinking of having M/W/F no-Twitter days and T/Th be twitter days. We’ll see.
Sep 15th, 2008
Casey Yandle
I’m glad you’re back this week! So is all of this negativity coming from the people you follow or just searches for “FAIL” on twitter? I don’t see that much negativity in the tweets that come from the people I follow and I don’t recall posting anything regarding “FAIL” on my tweets. However, I imagine the more people you follow on twitter the more noise you’ll run into and I can imagine the more negativity that will follow as well. I think an evaluation of the people you follow would make a good follow-up article. Like what % of people you follow post things like FTW and FAIL. Great post Dave!
Sep 15th, 2008
admin
@casey
The negativity wasn’t based on the use of “FAIL” I just wanted to throw that out as a quick example of how the twitter stream tends to run negative.
Its the ranty nature of the medium that gets me down sometimes. Really a personal observation that has repurcussions as a marketer
Sep 15th, 2008
kelliswift
Dave: I feel that twitter is a necessary evil at times! It keeps my finger on the pulse of information to keep up in the virtual world but then it takes up some of the time when I could be really productive. The split time is what I try to do.
I personally hope you stay just the way you are >> Completely crazy! Its what I understand. Overly rosey, Nooo wayyyy … :p
Sep 15th, 2008
Dr. Pete
Good observations, and thanks for sharing them. Back in April, I took a few weeks off of social networks and non-work blogs, mostly because work was piling up and it was chewing up my productivity. I also found that I got a lot done, but missed a few things, and was able to come back to Twitter with a bit more balanced perspective.
In addition to the negativity, one thing that really bothers me is the incessant feeling that I’m missing something and need to check on everything constantly. Despite what we all think about our multitasking prowess, the research says it’s a productivity-killer, and you can’t do the big, thought-intensive stuff when your checking Twitter every 2 minutes.
Sep 15th, 2008
Dev Basu
What can ya say Dave - You can’t live with it sometimes, and you definitely can’t live without it. In the beginning, my involvement in Twitter was off and on, and now I can’t seem to ignore it. I think it’s about finding the right balance between social involvement and productivity. Following the GTD philosophy really helps in this aspect. Cheers!
Sep 15th, 2008
Todd Mintz
I guess everyone is different, but I’ve never gotten the negative vibe at all from Twitter. I think a large number of FAIL’s and FTW (including mine) are done for effect…I wouldn’t take them personally :.)
Sep 15th, 2008
seosniper
Dave,
I totally understand it.. having a bad day.. and now some of our favorite SEO peeps (becoming less and less of favored as link baiting and vile language goes on..), so negative energy spewing across my twhirl at this point is no longer effecting me, just lessening my opinion of those negative people.. rise above it… having a bad day… ask your twitter peeps for a joke of a silly song etc.. turn it into somehting positive for you.
Sep 15th, 2008
Dana Lookadoo
I took some time away from Twitter last week as well (coincidence) and am glad I scheduled time for this stuff today and found your post.
I, too, experienced the meltdown effect recently with balancing so much social media participation, keeping up with the industry, clients, personal challenges (sudden illness of family member). Something had to go. I practically walked away from Twitter, Sphinn & Facebook, partially due to the signal to noise ratio - too much noise. I agree quite a bit with you (not that you are looking for agreement). I started unfollowing the negative people. I’ve tried to ignore some of it and let it be like water off a duck’s back. Challenge is to not allow some of the negative comments to linger in my mind and refocus on the positive.
I recently started following the the Getting Things Done (GTD) approach by blocking and scheduling time. Productivity has soared! However, I missed the water cooler and agree the social aspect is valuable. Heck, conversations on Twitter made me realize that Scary SEO would be valuable time/money spent.
Sep 15th, 2008
Garrett Pierson
Dave,
The post was a wonderful look into your test away from Twitter. I totally agree with everything that you said above and believe that we all have some of the same feelings that you have expressed.
With this being said we truly missed you even if some of it was negative.
Sep 16th, 2008
Mike B.
If I have a bad experience I will tell 10 people, if I have a good one I may tell 5.
Negative news is pushed much more than positive news…..
Human nature is a bitch! ;)
Sep 17th, 2008
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Sep 25th, 2008
rankin
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Sep 25th, 2008
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