What the Swine Flu Can Teach Us About Twitter
I read a very interesting article this morning on about Twitter and its effects on spreading information. In this case however, it was a negative example. The author points to the fact that Twitter includes people tweeting and retweeting information on the Swine Flu epidemic (currently trending 2 terms: Swine Flu and #Swineflu) and are doing more harm than good.
“Unlike basic Internet search—which has already been nicely used by Google to track emerging flu epidemics—Twitter seems to have introduced too much noise into the process: as opposed to search requests, which are generally motivated only by a desire to learn more about a given subject, too many Twitter conversations about swine flu seem to be motivated by desires to fit in, do what one’s friends do (i.e. tweet about it) or simply gain more popularity.”
I think it would be difficult to argue that Twitter doesn’t add noise to our daily lives, but simply another layer that has been added to our lives, and one that enables us to expand our informational flow to unprecedented levels. This over-stimulation can have detrimental effects.
Twitter’s biggest weakness is also its biggest strength, however.
Think of the tweets from the Hudson River plane crash, or the earthquakes in China. These examples weren’t just noise, they were real time news providing valuable insight into the calamities.
The information on the Swine Flu might be “motivated by desires to fit in and to do what one’s friends do” right now, when hard facts about the crisis is limited, however when pertinent, urgent information becomes available, Twitter will become the first channel of information for a large audience.
I would like to get your thoughts on this - do you think Twitter is vain? Or does it provide specific value?
