Before going on a six-week leave overseas last July, I was on Twitter daily and would regularly share comments, links and any other 140-character bits of information I thought was interesting.
The story has been quite different since my return in early August. Being away from technology for so long reminded me of the great sensation and freedom associated with not having anyone knowing what you are doing, thinking or sharing at this exact moment.
I see people tweeting away continuously and wonder how they can possibly be focused on their task at hand and be as productive as can be. If you’re always looking out for the next link to share or click on, can you really be effective with what you are working on at the time?
But then again, I would argue that Twitter has been the key to great realisations. I have seen plenty of examples that show the benefits of Twitter:
- I found out about a Dynamic Business feature relevant to one of our clients from a Tweet posted by editor Jen Bishop.
- My colleague Gemma and Roger Christie from Sefiani Communications started their PRinks event from meeting on Twitter and it’s now taking off to NZ
- Our agency DRPR has received more website hits from Twitter over the past year than from the website of our national industry body
- I am about to promote this blog on Twitter and get even more website hits thanks to this!
I won’t even discuss cases where companies have turned disgruntled customers into happy ones thanks to Twitter. So really, examples to show it is beneficial to have a presence on Twitter are countless.
I suppose the key to using Twitter efficiently is like with everything else: balance.
But how can an employer get that balance right and decide whether its staff’s time spent on Twitter is productive and beneficial or if it has simply become a distraction?
What do you think? Is Twitter a necessary evil, a most welcomed tool or just a time waster?
November 5, 2009 at 9:49 am |
I agree Kim, just like my email inbox and RSS reader, with Twitter, it’s a matter of balance plus using the different tools available to help you get the most out of it.
November 5, 2009 at 9:57 am |
I agree Kim – its all a matter of balance. Not many people get the “balance” right however. Employers need to learn more about Twitter and what it can do for their company’s profile, and set guidelines and goals for their employee’s use of the service. It depends, of course, on how big the company is as to how many hours it can allocate to social media. Balance
November 5, 2009 at 10:22 am |
I’m a great believer in the benefits of Twitter as a fantastic platform on which to share ideas, information, articles, make contact with interesting people, promote an event etc.
However I’m also of the opinion that it can be a real danger to workplace productivity levels.
If I have to get something done, I will shut down Twitter to make sure it’s out of mind and out of sight. Otherwise I find it difficult to focus on the task at hand if I’m constantly going from a task to checking Twitter, back to the task and so on.
So as Kim, Jo and Rob previously suggested – it all comes down to balance!
November 5, 2009 at 12:29 pm |
I personally think its a waste of time
November 5, 2009 at 1:47 pm |
A most welcome tool – Twitter’s one of those things where you get out what you put in so that decision falls entirely with the user in my opinion, Kim.
If you’re in a position to monitor it fairly regularly and you benefit from that (as per the examples you listed above) then that’s fantastic, and few other tools on the web provide such diverse, interesting content in such a regular manner. However, if you can’t…you can’t!
As everyone has suggested – balance is the key and, as is the case with interactions on Twitter, it’s all about two-way relationships so Twitter will give you back what you put into it.
November 5, 2009 at 4:25 pm |
Thanks for your comments Jo, Rob, Gemma and Roger. We’re definitely all on the same page when we talk about ‘balance’.
From your comment Roger I take that it’s up to the Twitter user to judge where that balancing act starts. However, I suppose we could reach a point when an employer would have to limit the time spent on Twitter by their staff. How could an employer make that judgement though? Has anyone ever experienced this in their own workplace?