Twitter: Dumbing Down the Highway

Author:

Stephen M. Saunders

Source:

What if I were to tell you that I’ve invented a new communications technology? Well, not really “new,” per se; more of a modified version of an existing medium. My brainchild doesn’t make money, at all, though it is AWFULLY popular with a specific demographic: annoying and self-obsessed people with too much time on their hands. Oh, and it doesn’t work properly for much of the time (sorry).
 
You’ve heard my pitch. Now, are you excited enough to divert scarce development resources to deploy it across your business? Are you stupid enough to prioritize applications based on it over those that are currently making money for your business?
 
Of course not.
 
And yet there is a technology, fitting this exact description, that b-to-b publishers across the United States are falling over themselves to deploy.
 
I’m talking, of course, about the egregious Twitter.
 
What is it about Twitter that has caught the publishers’ attention? The main reason given for Twitterizing existing Web sites with feeds or widgets is that it ...