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I was standing in front of a room of scared journalism students. As someone who has worked in the newspaper business for eight years, I was scared too. Our industry is dying. None of us can find jobs.
I said to them, it’s ok to be scared, and that we should bring the opportunities to us using new media because they won’t come the old fashion way.
This brought us to discussing Twitter. At the time, there was no suggested user list. In the case of my classroom audience, and my fellow millenials, very few were using it.
“I don’t know anyone on there, so I don’t use it”
“I hate Facebook, but that’s where my friends are”
For them, even though the services are different, the fear of not knowing anyone (and thus having no readers), and the social stigma of being “first” can be crippling.
I suggested they should get on Twitter because their friends and potential employers will come becase of its publishing potential. But knowing my fellow millenials have a tendency not to do anything unless their friends are, I knew this was a tough sale.
And then came the list
I will tell you, no friend recommendation list / program, on any network, is perfect. Twitter’s list is subjective and the process is mysterious, and that’s ok with me. Not because I’m on there, but because the people on the list are notable and helped ease that social inertia that kept people from using the service.
Twitter did what they could with a difficult task. Anytime you stick your neck out and suggest something new and something where people feel excluded, there is going to be trouble. Thankfully, that task had a clear goal: Bring new users over and get them publishing.
Is the criticism warranted? I don’t think so. Those with the most friends do not win on Twitter. What’s important is bringing new voices to the service and giving them the courage to share.
It worked.
In the time since the list was created, I have found many of the students in that class now using Twitter. And not only are those students using Twitter, so are their friends.
What Do I Want To See?
One of the things I want to see, reguardless of the specific online platform, is a way to find a mixture of both popular users (Friendfeed), suggested users from the editors for new users (Twitter), and people your friends think you should follow (Facebook).
All three seperately have their flaws. Facebook friend suggestions are vague and if you don’t know the friend making the suggestion, it’s useless. Friendfeed gives a clear advantage to people who were on the service first and were able to bring their large followings with them. Twitter’s list is subjective.
I’d love to see a combination of all three on all of the platforms. What’s important is finding new people that are creating great content that I otherwise would have never heard about. What’s important to other folks is that the process is fair, transparent, and more tailored to what the individual user wants.
I think messing with the Twitter list would do more harm than good. And for those of you thinking I am concerned about my place on the list, I’m not. When Jason Calacianis offered Twitter $250,000 for a spot, I said he could have mine if he gave the money to the 1 in 8 Foundation. The foundation I work with to promote the early detection of breast cancer.
If I find myself off the list (preferably) after September 1st, when A Million High Fives hits the road, I will write Twitter a polite thank you note, and move on.
I kind hope they’ll give me a heads up on the day they remove me and say, “Hey, we’re taking you off. Who do you recommend we put in your place?”
And if A Million High Fives is successful, one of the stops I want to make is Twitter HQ where I can thank the team for having me on the list in person, and then ask to take me off. #AMHF is the conclusion of a life long dream, and when it ends, it’s time to focus on more offline things.
Ten years of social networking, blogging, designing websites, posting in forums, digging, and everything else, often with little to no audience, is exhausting, and I really want a break. But I can’t take a break until the job is done.
In the unique case of Twitter’s list, it’s not about me, you, and the folks out there with different opinions on the list, it’s about people who don’t know if they want to use the service because of social inertia. The list is a solution to that problem.
(August 28th, 2009: Twitter sent me a very nice note letting me know they were taking me off the list, just a few weeks short of September 1st.)
