I had this post drafted a while back, waiting for a slot to schedule it. (Taking Steve Jones' advice from 24 Hours of PASS.) Well, Microsoft just dropped the bomb I was speculating on, so I had to get this one out there.
I am a cynic. People who know me might say I'm not. People who really know me know they don't have to be polite and will admit that I am. With that frame of reference, I looked upon Twitter as a colossal waste of time. Why would I shout out into the void of the internet that I'm brushing my teeth. Or walking the dog? Twitter = Bad reality TV. The short answer is that I don't intend to shout that meaningless stuff out and am expecting some other value to become apparent. I already see the value that I expected, and expect more in the future - specifically because of the deal Microsoft just made with Twitter and Facebook.
The Global Coffee House
It's fair to say that more that half of the tweets I follow are junk - probably 75% to 90% of them. Why do I consider them junk? It's the nature of Twitter. I liken Twitter to a coffee house - like Starbucks. You wander in, order your coffee... and can't help but overhear some conversations going on. In fact, some people actually go to these places to find conversation in addition to coffee. (Neither appeals to me - I don't think I'm a good conversationalist, and I don't like the taste of coffee.)
But regardless why you're there - that's what you can do - eavesdrop. And even more so than in a coffee house, this normally taboo behaviour is somewhat expected. People want you to join in on their conversations... to a degree. I still think there are some social lines set to be drawn about what is appropriate to be shared on Twitter and what's not - as more people discover that however much it might feel like a "private conversation" amongst friends, it really isn't.
The Actual Professional Value
So what specific value is there today, for someone like me, in a medium where I acknowledge that up to 90% of the traffic is junk?
Learning Opportunities via Word of Mouth
I suspect this isn't unique to the circle of people I follow; Twitter is a fantastic source of "word of mouth" information. I tend to follow people in my line of work, and when somebody finds a "gem" out there in the vast wasteland of the internet, they may tweet on it. Unfortunately, given the 140 character limit, the summary of the link they pass isn't great - but the content on the other end is usually fantastic. Not always what I'm interested in at the time, but very good for "rounding out" knowledge, much like subscribing to a newsletter, except the editors are people you "know".
On-tap Instant Problem Solvers
This is a marginal increase on the value I already find in the MSDN forums. For the technologies that I'm interested in, they're the place to go - much more so than StackOverflow or ExpertsExchange. However, there are times when sending a tweet out will reach a different audience of experts than posting on a forum. The second benefit is that I (have the ability to) pre-screen the audience I have on Twitter (by locking out those I don't want to follow me), so I know those who will receive my tweet aren't morons. (I haven't actually done that.) There's no such filter on the forums - opinions are like you-know-what, everyone has one. It doesn't happen often, but when someone with a helpful intent, but complete lack of helpful content posts a response on a forum, the experts may just skip right over it, assuming that someone else is "taking care" of the issue. Doesn't happen in Twitter.
The (Limited) Power of Twitter Search
The converse to the above is also true. I've set up some Twitter searches in TweetDeck to find me instances where a conversation touches on SSIS. There are false positives (Sassy Sisters In Sales, Brandeis' Student Sexuality Information Service) - but fortunately they're pretty quiet. Despite the occasional distraction, I use that search to find out about people in my profession who I'm not following, events, and blog postings. But most of all, I look for people asking for help. The idea there isn't to look for more work to not get paid for - but to help promote my own "brand" on the internet. I have to temper that enthusiasm to assist and get my name known, because it can be kind of creepy for the "other guy" to realize that his scream into the darkness of the internet actually results in some guy he doesn't know turning a flashlight on his face, saying "need a hand with that?"
I also have a search up for discussions that touch on slowly changing dimensions - but that doesn't net nearly as much traffic - specifically because I can't search on "SCD"... because that's apparently a South American TV show or something that has tons of twits talking about it. (Sorry, "tweeps"... OK, I'm not sorry.) I watch that search for times I might be able to jump in and suggest some helpful advice - usually centred around using my custom component in SSIS.
The Forseeable Business Value
For a business, there isn't much there yet. Sure, you can do the same kind of "conversation trolling" that I've done, using your own search terms. And the Twitter search does allow geographic narrowing of tweets - so it would be possible to eavesdrop on all the conversations about "need" and "roof" within 100 miles of your roofing business.
What will start the real business value is Microsoft and/or Google being able to license the Twitter feed. Twitter obviously doesn't have the technical chops or marketing muscle to push a brand-new aspect of internet searching - but those two do. Where do I see the value in that? Imagine our coffee shop again - but fill it with a million people all talking about different things. Some of them are just shouting into the void - but most are having conversations with those in their circles. Those conversations will invariably reference products - TV shows, books, technology, services, you name it. I'm not in marketing, but even I can see the value in market research right there. On top of that - businesses can take "market research" to the next level and become "intrusive". Just like I've done with my "slowly changing dimension" search feed - businesses can have customer service departments and salespeople being fed with tweets mentioning their product or terms that relate to their product. That business can then swoop in and save the day for their customer or potential customer - exactly what BBGeeks intentionally did, starting a business from "nothing".
Currently, Twitter search is pretty "dumb". It's not all that sophisticated. But throw in Google or Microsoft's search engines into the mix - and the potential for searching tweets for meaningful conversations is increased dramatically. Add to that that the search is "retroactive". Pay attention here - because this is an immensely critical point that differentiates Twitter from the coffee house eavesdropping metaphor. Going back to the coffee house - imagine somebody mentioning that they were unhappy with their Chrysler dealer because they felt they had been hosed on a brake service. If you're a mechanic who happened to overhear that comment, you could inject yourself into the conversation and try and get some business. But enter the power of Twitter - and something that will be very difficult for tweeps to get their heads around. Using Twitter, you - the mechanic - don't have to jump right in to the conversation cold. You can easily research your potential customer just by reviewing the conversation they just had. You can even research all their past conversations! By doing so, you have the ability to avoid spending time/money attracting a customer if they seem to be "unreasonable". You can inject yourself into the conversation more "naturally" by using terminology and phraseology consistent with the person having the problem, making them more comfortable and receptive to your pitch.
It's Inevitable
Crazy exciting and downright scary all at the same time. It takes the "be careful what you say on the internet - it will live forever" advice to the next level.
But mark my words... it's coming - from Google, Twitter, Microsoft, Facebook, somebody. It's just a matter of time.
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