Some thoughts on Twitter

I have not been twittering for a few days ... and, more importantly, I did not log into Tweetdeck, while working, for a few days.

So, what is the impact ?

- Did a life without Tweetdeck increase my level of productivity ? YES!
- Did I miss anything substantial ? NO! (or as my granny used to say: "what you do know, you can't miss")

So, the conclusion might be, social media are a distraction and should be avoided.

But I am not sure! I have very mixed feelings about social media:

On the one hand, yes, my little experiment showed there is a distraction factor. And the value derived from tweets varies, as tweets vary greatly in quality and - even with careful selection of tweeters to follow - relevance.

However, on the other hand, I think social media are absolutely wonderful when - as most things in life - used with a bit of thought and a certain level of moderation. And I especially love the brevity and no-nonsense approach of Twitter. This to me in a world full of constantly changing data and information is of great appeal.

And just look at some of the numbers of the Twitter success story ! These are from March 2011 and presumably have risen since. Aren't they just amazing ?!