You’re Wasting Your Time

Posted by David Armano / December 18, 2007 11:31 am 

“Twitter is a big waste of time”

This is one of the most common criticisms I see of the multichannel Web 2.0 service known as Twitter. And the author of the quote who’s name I can’t remember is quite right. Twitter is a huge waste of time, but then again—so is the internet.

Think about it. Out of all the time you spend “surfing” the Web, how much of that time do you spend in highly productive transactions where you are only concerned with getting from point A to point B? In contrast, how much time do you spend online where you ended up somewhere that you may not have intended, and realized you just invested a sizable chunk of your time doing it? The Web, by definition is a sticky place, woven from millions of connections which can be accessed in as little time as it takes for your finger to reach out and click on something. It’s a non-linear paradise filled with endless detours.

I’ve described user mindets as being “Navigators, Explorers, and Engaged Participants”–with the distinction that engaged participants are most likely to lose themselves in an experience. Time no longer becomes a factor, nor does productivity in the traditional sense. The users lose themselves in the experience that we call the worldwide web.

So yes, Twitter is a waste of time. So is Facebook, My Space, Flicker, Blogging, and watching videos on You Tube. But the real point isn’t whether spending time on these platforms is productive or not. No, the real issue we should be discussing is why millions of us are choosing to spend our precious free time in places like this vs. watching TV or even Bud TV for that matter. Who cares about debating the value of any of the 2.0 services, the fact of the matter is that every minute someone spends in an online community, or uploading media, or chatting, is one minute less that they will be spending watching television, visiting your flashy microsite or prying their eyes away from their iPods to notice your billboards shouting at them from the rooftops.

The Web is the mother of all time suck, and social networks will take away as much time as you are willing to give them. But think about the implications of this. You can’t force people to spend their time in ways that you approve of, and if the Internet has proven one thing—it’s that people have almost no tolerance for interruption there. So the question is, do we encourage people to spend their time differently? Or do we honor their choices and empower them to make the most of how they choose to spend their time? To me it seems like its not even an option. It’s not our decision to make–it’s in the hands of the consumers, the users, the people. All we can do is understand it, respect it, and hope to provide some value along the way. Because there’s no such thing as a waste of time as long as you are empowered to choose how you spend it. And ironically, calling out Web applications as a “waste of time”—may actually be the biggest waste of time itself.

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  • Josh Klein

    Surfing the web is like hanging out with a bunch of really smart people; you might zone out and twiddle your thumbs, but more likely your jaw will drop as you absorb their brilliance.

    I’m with you in that the market says what the market wants. The only question is whether or not the media (in this case, meaning bloggers) misrepresents how popular certain trends are.

    Take twitter. There is no doubt that the marketers, meta-bloggers, and 2.0 trend spotters were the first onto that ship. But did “regular users” follow?

    I think it’s legitimate to question whether marketers are twittering themselves in circles (that sounds a lot more obscene than I anticipated).

    Of course, maybe that audience is big enough to support the whole platform.

  • http://www.spincity.org Tyler

    I think it’d be better if you could find and link to the original quote. I mean, anything CAN be a waste of time, but I get the feeling the person who you’re quoting meant that Twitter IS a waste of time. Inherently and completely. I totally disagree with that, but the statement “Twitter is a waste of time” doesn’t seem worth saying unless you actually believe it.

    I find the “who cares about debating the value of Web 2.0 services” hilarious, since 90% of the internet seems to be made up of people doing just that. In fact, isn’t that one of the things you do? ;)

  • http://criticalmass.com David Armano

    “I find the “who cares about debating the value of Web 2.0 services” hilarious, since 90% of the internet seems to be made up of people doing just that. In fact, isn’t that one of the things you do?”

    LOL. Good point Tyler. It is one of the things I do. But I spend much more of my time dedicated to talking about the behavior shift (people adopting 2.0 tools)–more so than the validity of the tools themselves.

    Josh,
    One has to remember that bloggers, like most people are biased. Bloggers just tend to be more transparent about it. Is it a legitimate question to point out a specific tool as a waste of time? Maybe. I think though it warrants exploring how much of our overall behavior on the Web is also a “waste of time”, which is the point I’m bringing up here. So yes, it’s a valid perspective, but I think the bigger insight lies less in how people use Twitter and more in how we use the Web.

  • http://modadimagno.blogspot.com Lori Magno

    David: I love that I found this post via Twitter. Wasting time with your writing is one of my favorite things! Merry Christmas!

  • http://criticalmass.com David Armano

    Lori,

    I think communicating through comments is a waste of time too yes? Oh the irony! Merry Christmas to you too!

  • Josh Klein

    Good point, David. I guess my view is colored by how we use twitter; over here, we use it as an internally directed conversation, sharing links and comments that would otherwise clutter our inboxes.

    Of course, there is something very sexy about our internal conversation also being outwardly facing, and there is an occasional random interjection from the outside that reminds us how clever the tool is.

    My point is, the jury is still out for me. I’m not in love with Twitter, but I’m not a hater either. It has yet to awe me the way other tools have (like Facebook, for one).

  • http://www.mathewingram.com/work/2007/12/30/what-are-we-doing-when-we-twitter/ What are we doing when we Twitter? – - mathewingram.com/work

    [...] Karp noted in a recent post (my response at the time is here). But then, as more than one person has noted, the Internet can be a big waste of time too. And yes, I have had to turn off notifications for [...]

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