Comments

Tom - The difference between the two to me is like a sonnet and haiku. Both are valuable and necessary. But Twitter may not allow for the kind of interaction necessary that goes beyond 140 characters. How can a great discussion be had with such few characters? Where would color be found? What about variance? But I have read some thoughtful tweets. Some have been downright funny too. Of course, it is also about your objective, what you're trying to accomplish.

Once I got into a conversation with a bright young cat about hip hop and pop culture. We must have exchanged at least 20 tweets a piece. This is where blogging may have been better. But tweeting is most certainly a fun activity, reducing essence or sheer fun to its minimalist form. Richard Pryor was great at this.

While working on my PhD an Oxford professor required us to deduce the densest philosophical writing to a mere 150 words. I got so good at it that I started doing my assignments in verse just for the fun of it. I seem to have largely lost the ability to deduce my writing. :-) But there is also a skill in deducing reading which I am quite skillful.

By the way, Liberation Management is a great book! I only read it this year. I'm a follower of your tweets, but have not read too many of them. It's great that you're having so much fun!

Posted by Judith Ellis at December 8, 2009 2:45 PM

I loved Liberation Management. I loved it so much I bought a copy for my boss who misunderstood the gesture and thought I was telling him he needed management lessons (perhaps he did). What I like about this new landscape/ space we live in is that Twitter et al doesn't replace blog posts or books - they're all complementary. I like 'consuming' Tom on all these different platforms - it's the message (of course) that counts. I too am a big fan of brevity (forgive any verbosity here) and the 140 character format keeps all of us on our toes. A good filter for simple and effective communication.

Posted by Ian Sanders at December 8, 2009 5:37 PM

"Liberation Management" is one of those books (like Robert Townsend's "Up the Organization") which, when you read it again a few years later, you say to yourself: "If only I had taken more notice of that paragraph, it would have saved me so much grief (or made me so much profit) ...".
How many twitters will we treasure then read again and again?

Posted by Mike L. at December 8, 2009 6:00 PM

"I loved it so much I bought a copy for my boss who misunderstood the gesture and thought I was telling him he needed management lessons (perhaps he did)."

Ian - I literally laughed out loud!

"How many twitters will we treasure then read again and again?"

Mike L - This is a GREAT point! It is also how information is received that matters. Tweets, by their very format, is about the next thought, not about reflection on any past ones. This can be problematic in and of itself which addresses Ian's point about the diversity of "consuming."

Thank you both.

Posted by Judith Ellis at December 8, 2009 8:52 PM

"How many twitters will we treasure then read again and again?"

Judith, maybe the future is bright, and we'll see the likes of these on Twitter first:

"I am not a crook"--RMN
"It depends on what the meaning of is is"--WJC
"One if by land, ..."--PR
"I quit"--Edward VIII, Gov. Sarah Palin

Posted by tom peters at December 8, 2009 9:17 PM

Tom - ROTFLMAO!!!

Posted by Judith Ellis at December 8, 2009 10:34 PM

>Liberation Management is a great book!

That's like describing the Pacific as 'a big hole with water in it'. :-)

Personally, I consider LibMan should have had a Nobel for 'ass-kicking wake-up'.

Posted by g at December 9, 2009 1:24 AM

Hey g! Good to "see" you! Hope all is well.

"Personally, I consider LibMan should have had a Nobel for 'ass-kicking wake-up'."

You have a point there, g-man!

Posted by Judith Ellis at December 9, 2009 1:51 AM

TP's books: considered, constructed, laying out and arguing a premise, of substance, thought-provoking, inspiring, challenging, designed, game-changing, life-changing, well-thumbed, companions, judged worth writing (and editing) (and printing), judged worth buying, reputation-making, cut diamonds, making a difference.

TP's books: where I will continue to head when I need a good think about the world of work.

Twitter, on the other hand....

Posted by RobCH at December 9, 2009 2:22 AM

"One if by land, and two if by sea."

Ah, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Nice. I had not read "Paul Revere's Ride" in a while. I shall now get some shut-eye. Goodnight. Good morning.

Posted by Judith Ellis at December 9, 2009 2:59 AM

Been thinking about tweeting and blogging, probably in my sleep. Is tweeting more about information and blogging about expression? Do we express less and pass information on more when we tweet? (Such is not the case for Chris Brogan. By the way, he does both so beautifully.) Perhaps this is largely a function of the format and retweets that are usually links of articles or blog posts. I have enjoyed reading many links.

Posted by Judith Ellis at December 9, 2009 8:09 AM

I've been a latecomer to Twitter. Thinking, I can't keep most of my posts below 1,000 words, so why would I want to limit myself to 140 characters?

Like Judith, I found it was similar to the discipline of writing haiku, and I really began to enjoy myself there.

It's raising lots of questions for me, about how we use social media and what the potential of the medium could be.

But there are too many lazy tweeters, who are just posting references to other people's, or their own, content. We all know the medium can do this, but if that's all we use it for, it just becomes a giant bookmark, or an overloaded signpost. boring boring boring.

viagra canadian pharmacy discount As entrepreneurs, or even just humans(!), we want and need to connect with others. My most rewarding Twitter experiences have been moments when I've made a new and genuine connection with someone.

Sometimes these connections begin and people move to using Direct Messages, which frustrates me hugely. You might as well email. Come on, folks ~ the medium is there to be used and developed. And using it can become an art form. But people are not thinking about what the medium can do and what it could be used for. They are just seeing it as another box they have to tick to keep their web presence up.

To be honest, I've become a little jaded about Twitter already, after merely two months. But Tom, I'll be following you now too, and I look forward to seeing what you're doing with it. Over and out.

Posted by Samantha Brightwell at December 10, 2009 6:16 AM

Great reference to Bob Townsend, Mike. He wasn't much of an author, so "Up the Organization" was brief and broken up into mini, stand-alone topics. Pre-Twitter twitter, so to speak. But in my opinion, very little else has been written (other than by Tom and a few) that captures the approach of managing and leading as a human being, for other human beings. I wish I could have met him, it sounds like he was an exceptionally different and fun person who also managed to rescue a large corporation (Avis).

Posted by Bruce at December 11, 2009 1:26 PM

Speaking of Liberation Management, check out my blog post from about a week ago. Nothing controversial on this one...

Posted by Randy Spangler at December 13, 2009 9:55 PM

Was my previous post less than 140? Follow me on Twitter @randyspangler. I can be succinct! Really...

Posted by Randy Spangler at December 13, 2009 10:03 PM