Needless to say, my Twitter postis generating lots of reaction, and thanks to all who have taken the time to send me notes that have been, happily, longer than 140 characters.
I got an interesting email from Dom Sagolla Friday after my post appeared on this blog. Dom is one of the co-creators of Twitter. I haven't called him yet, though I plan to. His email, and my response, are below.
hi Jim,
As one of the co-creators of Twitter (and newly published author of "140 Characters: A Style Guide for the Short Form"), I enjoyed your measured commentary. In the past 3.5 years since we built version 1, I've read many a similar rant but yours was more thoughtful than most.
I believe the value of Twitter shows itself over time, coming and going in a cycle:
Twitter is what you make of it. You don't have to use it like everyone else to find value in it. If you want to post once a month, that's fine. Once a year, that's fine. Not post at all, not follow, only search, that is totally fine and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
That's just your style, and everyone is unique. One question, though: how exactly do you define "value" here? Part Two of "140 Characters" tries to define value in terms of voice, reach, links, and words. I'd enjoy a discussion with you about the nature of value in social media and specifically Twitter.
Thanks for writing,
--
@Dom Sagolla