twitter and wikis

I've been a persistent twitterer for some time and my view is that it's a perfect technology for opinionated academics and others. Since signing up in April I have dropped many pearls of wisdom in front of my 44 followers (most of whom are real people, only a few are pornographic spammers) and there is precisely zero evidence that anyone at all has read my postings, let alone improved their minds as a result. Very similar to lecturing a class hahaha!

Wikipedia on the other hand is a different story. As a marketer I love it - people actually go there seeking information, thus driving further development of the content. And because it is well known that there is minimal paid gatekeeping, readers treat the content with caution. (At least, they should.) I find it a brilliant source of references, ideas to check out. An electronic substitute for one of the things I value the most about my job, the availability of intelligent, informed colleagues who help to guide my thinking. And for students it is a superb introduction to intelligent use of the internet; great ideas, to be checked out further and treated with caution.

So twitter is a means for the self-indulgent and self-important to publish their views and think they are making a difference, but actually just pleasing themselves - analogous to public transport systems which focus on timetables not passenger satisfaction, or suffering incontinence while wearing a brown suit. Wikipedia and wikis generally are the ultimate in information democracy.

I like this post. I think it's my best so far.