Why the retweet will kill Twitter?
I was once a Twitter evangelical nerd. I sat on the mountaintop and preached that if anyone was well positioned to “kill” Google it would be Twitter. It made perfect sense to me.
To recap:
- Twitter can provide an instantaneous index of the current landscape of the Internet… Google cannot.
- Twitter can provide user generated filtering of Bull poopy where content that is cream of the crop will float to the top.
- Twitter can contain the verbose and force them to stick to a few good points.
I still believe in Twitter, but just like anything else in this world, once it gets popular and gets under the microscope the imperfections get amplified. The retweet is a gigantic Zit on the Supermodel nose, and there is no Clearasil in sight.
For those of you that don’t know what a “retweet” is; a retweet is when one person copies a tweet from someone in their Twitter network and shares it with the people in their own network. For those of you that don’t know what a “Twitter” is; I would really like to understand how you get your cave wired for cable.
In theory the retweet is the definition of “word of mouth” advertising. The more people share something with others the more relevant or important it becomes. It makes sense. However, there is a missing element in 90% of the retweets that I get from people. Most people don’t add WHY they are retweeting. A retweet without context is a sandwich without bread. Non-contextual retweets fall into the “White Noise” category of information.
It’s gotten so bad lately that I have been “de-friending” the habitual retweeters. In fact, there have been a few folks that only retweet. In my opinion, a genetically engineered Gerbil could be trained to only retweet.
I understand that Social Media gurus teach this a way to “get the word out”. I appreciate the sentiment of the idea, and agree that it might be successful in the short term, but in the long run it is absolutely the worst thing to happen to Twitter.
Why is it so bad?
White Noise retweet posts without context will become the “boy who cried wolf” of the internet, and eventually people will just start tuning them out. This will kill the potential power of the search tool Twitter has at their fingertips. It will be ruined by the tribes that can assemble enough people to retweet inane posts, and influence the search capabilities. It is no longer user-generated content, and now becomes user-manipulated content.
How it can be fixed?
Add context for your retweets. Tell people why you think they are important. Without context to our retweets, we are nothing more than social media capable genetically engineered gerbils.
Popularity: 100% [?]
Good Idea but due to the limited micro space. It may not be possible to explain the retweet. Besides if one is retweeting a full article it should be self explanatory. Well like you said there is no perfection so retweet is the next best thing to spread the word. Thanks
Obed, I think you are missing the point.
Retweets may be the next best thing to spread the word, excepting the fact that systematically spreading the word by merely retweeting will cause people to not listen– thereby not only preventing ‘the word’ from being spread, but killing the other good in Twitter as well.
I’m like Ben here, albeit not with Twitter but with Facebook. A while back, people started incorporating their Twitter feed into their FB statuses. But then some of them were doing nothing but re-tweeting. I eventually blocked them; they were my friends and I was curious about what they were up to and what they thought, not at all in getting the latest talking points from whichever part of the internet had fired out the latest missive. Yeah, to a certain point they were sharing what they thought (“I retweeted this because I found it interesting or I agree with it” was always implied) but, sorry. Tell me who I should be following on whatever site and let me decide, and leave Tweeting and Facebookstatusing for what YOU think, in your own words, briefly.
As with emails, retweets should be used sparingly, otherwise they loose impact in your sea of “white noise” Just as I delete without reading about 80% of my emails, I ignore most of what comes to me through Twitter. I can’t drop either because there are times when the information is essential.
Having said that, I should clarify that I don’t bother with the “I’m sitting on the beach” types, but use it as a tool to keep in touch with clients, co-workers and political allies.
Good Idea but due to the limited micro space. It may not be possible to explain the retweet. Besides if one is retweeting a full article it should be self explanatory. Well like you said there is no perfection so retweet is the next best thing to spread the word. Thanks.
In light of this column, I may need to bump up my “Zen of the Retweet” topic; but until I record it, I feel compelled to reply.
In both my Twitter books, I cover retweeting; but particularly in All a Twitter, I mention that “Retweeting is NOT Participation” and I would argue that retweeting will not kill Twitter but could seriously damage your (wait for it!) tweet cred. Social Media gurus, I find, tend to be the most inept in Social Media, especially the ones that are doing nothing but retweeting. That approach to Twitter is not only wrong, it’s downright annoying. If you disagree with me, do this: go to a party and attempt to engage and hold conversations using nothing but what you hear being said around you. Trust me, you’ll find yourself alone by the snacks, tempted to double-dip a chip.
I believe retweeting is part of the Twitter experience, but it can be easily abused. If all you’re doing is retweeting, or if you spend a majority of your time retweeting, then you’re missing the point. People follow you in Twitter because YOU have something to say. I feel the same way about RTs as I do about quotes. In moderation, they add to the fun and to the potential of Twitter. One quote or one RT for every ten to twenty tweets, and I think you’re golden.
If all you do is regurgitate others, I ask “Does solid food hurt Brundlefly?” (If you miss the reference, look up David Cronenberg’s remake of THE FLY. Eeeewww…)
I believe in the Retweet, so long as you do so in moderation.
Thanks for this post. I’ll have to write and record my Zen of the Retweet episode. (Mind if I cite this article?)
Yikes.
Twitter is nothing more than a passing trend and waste of time. All it has done is amplified the hubris of celebrities like Ashton Kutcher. I guess it has also magnified how horrifically narcicistic we have become.
Get over it.
They need tags, like Fark has. maybe =fail, or =amusing?
no problem
Speaking of Fark… amazing how this little post from a while back has gotten attention. Honestly, I was over it. I’m a little bit taken aback by some of the Farkers wanting to punch me in an unmentionable location, but that’s fark. I’m glad for the discussion.
Re-Tweeting has it’s place, and for better or worse this post was born of frustration with people who only re-tweet.
Maybe I’ll take on Follow Friday next…
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