I'll start off with a post I found regarding Twitter's misuse as a marketing tool--the tendency of too many people to tweet, "Look at me! Look at me!" They're not showing the value of what they can do for others. They're using it to spam and hard sell people, when Twitter's all about soft sell, making connections, relationship building AND increasing exposure.
This is a good point, but I think Twitter has a few more problems than that.
Basically, you could say that Twitter is like the biggest party or networking event in the world. And, as such, it can be awesome. But it's also like the biggest water cooler session or the biggest rumor mill in the world. And, as such, it can be really horrible in various ways.
Although people look to Twitter for resources, news and information, it's clear that a lot of what's being tweeted is just plain wrong.
Meanwhile, the Associated Press ran an article with the following bombastic headline: "Is Twitter the news outlet for the 21st century?" (Oh, God, I hope not.)
Even this article acknowledges that while people can tweet news much faster and in a more interactive way than traditional media, it doesn't mean Twitter users are good reporters. They may be lousy observers. They may have an agenda. They may not know the whole story. They may be making stuff up. They may be passing along unsubstantiated hearsay. (Was it Mark Twain that said a lie goes halfway around the world before the truth can pull its boots on? Now lies circle the globe many times at the speed of Twitter before the truth even thinks about putting on footwear.)
Or they may just exercise bad judgment, like this novelist who really should have taken a deep breath and counted to 10 (or maybe 100) before she trashed a reviewer on Twitter. It's way too easy to rip people a new one online these days.
So, please, people--think before you tweet. And don't believe everything you read. On or offline.
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