This is my own follow up to Is Twitter an Approximation of Team Room Osmotic Chatter?
After some months of using Twitter, my conclusion is inconclusive. My usage patterns are fairly clear. I scan it many times a day if I am connected to the interweb. I tweet when I am not busy working, when I want to ask a question to the ether (answers often come from outside of my network of twittermates) or when I am not working because my brain is fried or I am stuck in an airport. Often times a tweet exchange switches to an IM conversation or email thread.
At the wonderful Agile Coach Camp in Ann Arbor this weekend, I was introduced to Twitter. I have previously dismissed it as an idle pursuit for people with nothing else to do and therefore an infinite regression of banality. Several people claimed otherwise and encouraged us all to try it as a way to keep in touch en-masse. An example cited was one young woman who had a number of useful interactions with a famous person who would otherwise have been inaccessible to her, simply because she was “following” him.
When I am not at a customer site, I work at home. I have cats for office mates. I don’t get that osmotic communication that happens in team rooms and is one of the benefits of co-location. I am wondering if Twitter can get me part way there. I am going to give it a try.
My Twitter name is rwbrown. Send me a tweet.