I’ve always been somewhat ambivalent about Twitter. I quite enjoy using it, but I also find the limit of 160 characters makes it more or less impossible to say anything at all nuanced. So why do I use twitter? I think that there are three main reasons:
- The main reason I use twitter, is also the least serious. Quite simply, it can be great fun. I interact with a number of people who write very well and very amusingly. It probably won’t change the world, but the humour makes me smile!
- It is a very good way of following news events. My first experience of this was following the results of the last US presidential election while at a workshop in the Philippines. Twitter gave me a very clear picture of what was going on. Since then, I’ve used it to follow the Trafigura scandal in Ivory Coast and London and more recently, the #civ2010 thread has allowed me to follow fallout of the last Ivorian election.
- The other main reason to use twitter is for more general interest. I follow a few technology gurus, the meteorological office, our local railway service and our internet service provider. I don’t read everything they write in detail, but every now and then I come across an article or piece of news which is very useful.
A number of people have suggested that Twitter is now essential for Christian ministry. I must admit that I remain unconvinced by this. This blog automatically sends out a tweet every time a post is published, but it has much less impact on readership than Facebook. I’m far from convinced that twitter is mainstream enough in the Christian world for it to be of much value. I suspect that another technology will have taken over before Twitter actually acheives the sort of critical mass that would make it truly useful.
Whatever the value or otherwise of Twitter, it is clear that it has a very, very dark side. I mentioned following the #civ2010 thread in order to get news about the situation in Ivory Coast. For the last few months this has been an excellent source of thoughtful articles and insight into the situation. As you would expect in any tense political conflict, there was a degree of posturing and bias on the thread, but in general, it was a good way to find out what was going on. However, over the past week or so as things have become more tense in the country, twitter has taken a serious turn for the worse. There are far fewer reasoned or thought through articles and a lot more conflict and aggression. Sadly, the thread is now polluted with incitement to violence and revenge, racial hatred and outright lies. You can read a good analysis of it here. The situation is bad, but I fear that the hatred being poured out on twitter (by both sides) is simply aggravating things.
It is, of course, no surprise that Twitter can be used for evil – this is a fallen world after all. However, I do think that the way in which Twitter is being used in Ivory Coast should give us some pause for concern. It is easy for Christian ministries to jump on the latest technological bandwagon without giving any serious thought to the implications and consequences of doing so.
Yes, I know that the picture doesn’t have Twitter on the screen – but I like it!
6 replies on “What is the Value of Twitter?”
Well, we’ve found that when we pull our tweets off for a time, traffic to our website goes down. Also have had individual missionaries write with specific requests for help and info, and others with prayer requests. It’s not perfect, but it does have some value.
I’m far from convinced that twitter is mainstream enough in the Christian world for it to be of much value.
That may be true now, but at the same time, “the future is here, it just isn’t evenly distributed yet.” – what the tech folks are doing now, everyone will be doing in five years time.
I’m not sure that I agree with you on this, Simon. I reckon that the rest of the world will find something really interesting to work with, while the ‘tech folks’ are still stuck on Twitter!
I suspect that another technology will have taken over before Twitter actually acheives the sort of critical mass that would make it truly useful.
I agree with you that twitter probably won’t reach a critical mass in the general population – it may not grow a huge amount more from now on. But I’m not sure that doesn’t mean it’s useful. I think it’s great at connecting individuals with other individuals with similar interests, and helping them to share information. These could be individuals with good or bad intentions as you say, but that’s life, not the fault of the medium.
I’m much less convinced about organisational twitter accounts, as they tend to be focused on promoting their goals and are almost always one-dimensional with an obvious agenda, whereas individuals tend to feel much freer to just say what they think and interact more genuinely.
140 characters. 😉
Eddie, I found your blog through a tweet, “@bibleandmission Bible and Mission New blog post: ‘Making a Biblical Studies programme missional, part 1’ http://bibleandmission.redcliffe.org.” Then through some pointing, clicking, and a few hyperlinks later, I came back to your site and found this article. For me, twitter is continually used as a tool to discover new authors, their books, articles, people, news, etc. It also helps me stay connected to portions of the global church which I find especially valuable.