Is Twitter a “Time Suck”?

Posted by Gabe on June 18, 2009 under Social Media, Twitter | 13 Comments to Read

This subject is dear to me as evidenced by the fact that this is the second post I have written about it.  When I talk to people lately the conversation invariably drifts towards Twitter.  I must admit it is me doing the driving here because I feel I am sitting on a gold mine and want to share it with others. “Hah! I have no time for something like that!” is a common response I get.  I look back at them dumbfounded wondering how they can discard something so quickly.  I have also discovered that my reactions to that statement have not been admirable.  I tend to get flustered, trying to recount all the ways that it has helped me but the longer I do it I sense that my monologue is falling on deaf ears.  So I decided I would just leave the subject alone.

Then my brother called me the other day.  We discussed his recent trip to Uganda with an organization called Sleeping Children Around the World (SCAW).  As an ambassador for the group he is tasked to help market their cause to others.  Of course he knew about our recent PitchTV win, a contest conducted by Sir Richard Branson, so he asked me if I thought it would benefit SCAW to send in a pitch.  This is a long shot and in my eyes not the best use of their time and resources if all they are trying to do is expand awareness about their organization.  I told him, “Not sure about that, but I would highly recommend that they use Twitter.”  His immediate reaction was, “Oh – they would never have any time for that!”  As usual my blood pressure started rising and I was off talking about how it has helped Kids Are Heroes immensely.  I was making some inroads with him but hadn’t convinced him till I told him that the Ryan’s Well Foundation is using it. (Isn’t that always the case?)  After our long discussion he decided to bring it up to the powers that be.  He did just that and the response was they “hadn’t taken Twitter seriously up to this point” but they would take another look into it. 

Now I am not calling out SCAW for not taking Twitter seriously.  All most people hear about are the politicians using it as a mouthpiece and Ashton Kutcher ranting on about something or other.  I honestly believe Twitter must be experienced before its value can be determined.  As a matter of fact, Twitter in and of itself has no intrinsic value.  The value is realized by the effective use of Twitter.   However, the point of this exercise for me is to see if there is a better way to get the point across.  So I posted this question to my Twitter colleagues: “If you are trying to convince someone to use Twitter but they say they have no time, what is your response?” I learned a number of lessons from putting this question out there.

I think the biggest lesson I learned is that not everyone, including people already using Twitter, sees Twitter as such a valuable resource as I do.  I started using it in December of 2008 with a stated goal that I wanted to get as much exposure for Kids Are Heroes as I possibly could.   My results have been no less than incredible.  The last time I wrote about this subject @BethSchillaci reminded me that one should indeed have a goal when embarking onto social media platforms in order to make sure time is used efficiently and expectations are set.  This is very true. To quote @JohnHaydon (again) about the value of Twitter: “The focus should be on “How can I use this tool to generate value” and not “What does this stupid Twitter thing do?”

I also learned (hopefully) that I should temper myself.  Yes I have gotten much out of my use of Twitter, but this will not be the case with everyone.  I also learned that after you beat your head against the wall so many times, that ends up being a time waster in and of itself.

So I wanted to share some snippets of what people said in response to my question.  If you were not quoted here and/or didn’t answer the question yet, feel free to answer it in a comment.

Q: If you were trying to convince someone to use Twitter but they said they have no time, what would your response be?

@mccmarianne: “I say too bad for them they are missing out!”
@emilyg23: “You can even text it in from your phone… super easy & quick.”
@LibraFitnessAus: “Twitter is a time suck for me, sometimes. I advise them to schedule times of day to check it.”  When I asked her to clarify “time suck” she said that sometimes she stays on longer than is necessary, but “In 5 minutes I get a 90% return, good information and interaction (my @replies, DMs, favs). ”
@AmyShropshire: “Twitter’s like a quick phone call. Stop by, say hello. Don’t need to be on all the time to connect.”
@inkcanada: “My response is, it saves time. Short bursts to all friends live at once is faster than hoping they all open FB or mail at same time, in time :).”
@kmog216: “If you have time to text you can tweet…”
@judithsoldyess: “Replace something you are already doing that doesn’t bring much value, and try Twitter instead.”
@turtlelady81: “I would say, “understood.” Twitter DOES take alot of time. . . my husband reminds me constantly.”
@paulsteinbrueck:  “Show how twitter is working for you and how much of your time it takes. Let them decide. IMO Twitter isn’t for everyone. (shocking!)”
@mpt2011: “Twitter DOES take up a lot of time. Your friends are right to worry.”
@hotspringer: “No time to Tweet? I figure they’re like me: addicted. Once they start, they have trouble stopping. Like now. Gotta go.”
@joshuadenney: “Share one insight, share someone else’s, add perspective to a discussion, follow/follow back interesting people-all this in just 15 minutes a day.”
@ApothecaryJeri: “You can’t afford NOT to spend a little time on the most talked about and influencial media today.”
@chicagocarless: “Businesses saying they have no time for social media in 2009? It’s like saying you have no time to pick up your office phone.”

To be fair, I had to add my own newly formatted short answer:

@KidsAreHeroes: “How much time do you spend marketing now?  How well is it working? Being on Twitter really doesn’t take much time at all. Your biggest challenge will be to stay off of it after you discover how productive its use can be – and it’s FREE!”

Knowing my friend @JohnHaydon would have an eloquent answer, I asked him specifically. Since he knew I originally directed this at a non-profit his response was: “Could you make time if you knew you could expand your impact and fundraising?”

All excellent and valid answers, and I thank everyone for chiming in.  I was offered another gem from @ApothecaryJeri that stuck with me: “I don’t try convincing people anymore to do anything~I offer, plant a seed, tell them if they want more info they know where I am.”  I hope to go by this mantra from now on…

So, if I find myself in this discussion again with someone who has never been on Twitter, I will point them to this post and let them start to decide if Twitter is for them and if they have time for it.  I hope that they will see that the proof is in the pudding – that this blog post was written from the responses I have received on Twitter.  It took me all of 30 seconds to post the questions – I think I did it two or three times – and look what we all have learned.

In the interest of full disclosure, I decided to reveal the replies I have received on Twitter regarding this post.  The title asks a slightly different question, which I think is equally as important: Is Twitter a ‘Time Suck’?

@PediatricSafety: (after having read the tweet from FutureTweets): “Beyond a time suck…says the person talking to you at 2am :)”
@TalkStrategyNFP: “Yes, it is!! I’m trying to figure out how to be effective on Twitter without spending hours!!”
@KevinKopp: “No more than Facebook, yet MUCH more useful. ”
@nina0606: “It’s only so if you don’t know how to use it, which your blog helped me do! Understanding it is key.”
@FamilyEducation: “Like any tool, Twitter’s all in how you use it. It’s not inherently useful or useless, efficient or time-sucking.”
@SarahSonging: “Like any other techno-tool, Twitter can be used to your advantage or end up wasting your time. Use your head. :)”
@fentonslee: “If it is *just* a time suck, you are doing it wrong.”
@mjsweir: “It can be both. It depends on how you use it! I have learned so much about ed from Twitter that the pros outweigh the cons!”
@hiannie: (Our most unique response to date) “I respond to this with a song: JB Walker – You’re No One If You’re Not On Twitter…” ♫ http://blip.fm/~8nteb

I will add more as I receive them.