Conversing, 140 Characters At A Time

Matt asks a question relevant to a post on his site from the other day:

Is twitter a good platform for conversations/IM?

I knew I’d get to drag you into it!

muahahahaha

Kicking and screaming here I am.

I think for instant IM it’s not very condusive at all as it clutters the box of people who may be following you or confuses people who are following you but not others.  Now, it’s interesting when you can get three or more parties involved because then you might learn something, but if it’s a group of people just talking about where to get lunch, well, you’re filling in my Twitter feed with nonsense.

That said, sometimes a conversation takes place over time, with one post following another with hours between them.  In those cases, I think it’s fine.  Especially if it’s something that readers can learn something from (aside from one’s love of mustard on their turkey sammich).

I think you see the troublesome conversations pop up when people who are used to texting start talking via Twitter.  If you’re used to firing off responses to a pal you don’t really think twice about the fact that it’s now on a public platform.  I think a friendly reminder to those individuals to find a room should solve the problem but if it doesn’t, well, they don’t have to be followed.

(This is a response to “Ask Me Something“, a feature where you the reader gets to ask me the writer a question and I answer it. Feel free to join in.)