Online Marketing Blog - Latest Comments in Twitter Poll: Ultimate Time Waster, or Great Tool?

Re: Twitter Poll: Ultimate Time Waster, or Great Tool?

Peter Wolf — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:20:57 -0000

Marketing and business folks can make Twitter well worth their time. I vote for great tool!

Re: Twitter Poll: Ultimate Time Waster, or Great Tool?

Stanium — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 08:09:52 -0000

It really depends on how you use it. So for me it is both ultimate time waster AND great tool.

Re: Twitter Poll: Ultimate Time Waster, or Great Tool?

Internet Marketing Joy — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 17:54:20 -0000

I guess for me, Twitter is a pretty useful tool in making other people know what's happening to you right on that moment..^^ plus it is very efficient and fast way to communicate with your peers..^^

Re: Twitter Poll: Ultimate Time Waster, or Great Tool?

techsnaps — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 15:33:44 -0000

The idea behind Twitter may have led it to initially be a time-waster but some great minds went to work and saw its vast potential for business/news use. Now all I see are great liveblogging, news alert, and collaboration tools built around the Twitter API and concept. Best example I know: KPBS News in San Diego used it as a live alert system during the October 2007 wildfires in California when their website was hammered into submission. Twitter became a primary way to get immediate information about shelters, evacuations, and flare-ups (I received the Twitter notifications over SMS).

Re: Twitter Poll: Ultimate Time Waster, or Great Tool?

Your SEO Mentor — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 10:33:33 -0000

Thanks for the Poll Lee, Personally I think it can be both depending on how you are using it.

Re: Twitter Poll: Ultimate Time Waster, or Great Tool?

Adido Web Design — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 17:43:27 -0000

About time someone did a poll like this, well done on starting the debate Lee.

Personally I can't see any point to twitter at all. Although I'm late to the game in terms of getting to grips with it, everything I've read about it leads me to think it is a complete time waster. I'm impressed my @Micheal D's testimonial to the benefits but for me its a big thumbs down.

Re: Twitter Poll: Ultimate Time Waster, or Great Tool?

Mike Wilton — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 17:06:52 -0000

I think that it's both a great tool and a time waster. I use Twitter for both gathering information as well as it's basic social use. I will tweet about SEO and work related finds, but I will also tweet about my daily happenings. "What are you doing?" means just that. It's great that people are taking it to the next level and using it to drop links and to relay industry related info, but to those who are complaining about tweets about the everyday, they have lost sight of the true purpose of Twitter.

Re: Twitter Poll: Ultimate Time Waster, or Great Tool?

robin seidner — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 17:00:23 -0000

Lee,
I cringe at polls like this, because frankly, Twitter is both a great tool and a time suck (at least for me), and I can't vote one of each.

Re: Twitter Poll: Ultimate Time Waster, or Great Tool?

Jeannine Crooks — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 11:55:12 -0000

Some people use Twitter wisely, but I'm tired of knowing when someone went to Dairy Queen for an ice cream cone. I'm much more careful now about who I follow than I was when I first joined.

Re: Twitter Poll: Ultimate Time Waster, or Great Tool?

Lee Odden — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 08:26:20 -0000

Michael, that's a fantastic testimony for Twitter you have there!

Re: Twitter Poll: Ultimate Time Waster, or Great Tool?

therichbrooks — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 08:23:38 -0000

I'm reminded of that old Saturday Night Live bit, "New Shimmer is a floor wax *and* a dessert topping." Twitter is just a communication tool; if people choose to share what they're having for lunch, that's what it will be. If they use it to share ideas, network and communicate, that's what it will be.

I just can't believe you posted this survey on a day when I posted How to Use Twitter for Business: and asked the same questions! (Were you looking over my shoulder?)

Re: Twitter Poll: Ultimate Time Waster, or Great Tool?

Michael D — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 00:33:08 -0000

Great tool is an understatement IMO. Besides all the typical greatness twitter has provided me (connectivity with friends, new relationships and contacts, more traffic to my sites) I've had some added bonuses. 1) Thanks to a tweet I won a free pass to the sold out SMX Advanced event 2) I sponsored a copyblogger post (which later appeared in the LA Times) 3) I was featured in USA Today (online and print) as a result of a fast reply to a tweet by Chris Winfield. Not too shabby for a time waster.

Re: Twitter Poll: Ultimate Time Waster, or Great Tool?

Lee Odden — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 22:49:34 -0000

Seems that Twitter is a bit of both, time waster and great tool for most people. In the end, it's one or the other though, at least at the time and purpose for this poll.

Thanks to everyone who has responded and feel free to retweet.

Re: Twitter Poll: Ultimate Time Waster, or Great Tool?

Aaron Weiche — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 20:28:23 -0000

When I followed your Tweet to get to this poll I was hoping to find a rating scale or 4 to 5 choices with some middle ground ... but since there is no middle ground, a great tool it is.

Re: Twitter Poll: Ultimate Time Waster, or Great Tool?

Dana Lookadoo — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 19:44:28 -0000

Found out about poll by following Lee on Twitter. In Seattle for SMX now on cell and made connections only possible thru Twitter. Can grow relationships yet wonder if some significant others experience Twitter estrangement from their active Tweeters.

Re: Twitter Poll: Ultimate Time Waster, or Great Tool?

Stacy O'Connell — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 19:09:46 -0000

It depends on how you use it. If you only have friends updating their mundane life experiences (at the coffee shop, driving to work), it's pretty lame. If you use it as a business tool, to network, to learn and share ideas then it's very useful.

Re: Twitter Poll: Ultimate Time Waster, or Great Tool?

Warren Sukernek — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 18:57:18 -0000

As most have said, it really depends on the user. The signal to noise ratio can really vary. If Twitter is used by the "I had a ham sandwich for lunch" crowd, then it really is not very useful and a big time waster. However, forming relationships, strengthening your community, and trading insights makes it an extremely relevant great tool.

Re: Twitter Poll: Ultimate Time Waster, or Great Tool?

Chris Dohman — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 18:49:11 -0000

Twitter can be a big time waster but that does not exclude it from also being a great and productive tool. Marketing and business folks can make Twitter well worth their time. I vote for great tool!

Re: Twitter Poll: Ultimate Time Waster, or Great Tool?

The Harriman Team — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 18:36:23 -0000

It's a great tool if you know how to use it; it's a great time waster when the bloody thing is DOWN more than it's UP! If they can solve that problem, it's the ultimate micro-blogging tool.

Re: Twitter Poll: Ultimate Time Waster, or Great Tool?

DoesWhat — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 18:29:35 -0000

It depends if it becomes an addiction, if it does become an addiction then it is probably a time waster, but if Twitter is used sensibly then it can be something worthwhile.

Re: Twitter Poll: Ultimate Time Waster, or Great Tool?

Walt Goshert — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 18:23:05 -0000

Great tool to make quick connections and stay in touch. I use it to write short, little personal notes to prospects and clients.

Easy to get sucked into conversations that destroy your focus.

Just one more arrow in the quiver... It's not a be all and end all solution.

Re: Twitter Poll: Ultimate Time Waster, or Great Tool?

Lee Odden — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 18:12:59 -0000

There you go again Michael, making sense. :) Hopefully for the purpose of this poll, and subsequent use in a presentation, can you pick one

Re: Twitter Poll: Ultimate Time Waster, or Great Tool?

Doug McCaughan — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 18:04:33 -0000

Anything can be a time sink. It's a matter of how we choose to use them.

Re: Twitter Poll: Ultimate Time Waster, or Great Tool?

AK — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 18:04:20 -0000

Definitely not the ultimate time waster ;)

Re: Twitter Poll: Ultimate Time Waster, or Great Tool?

Michael Brito — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 17:59:38 -0000

for me, it can be the greatest tool AND a time waster (not necessarily at the same time). It depends what's on my plate.