The Tao of Innovation

Really thoughtful post. To me, the greatest advantage of Twitter--and what makes it more than just another social network--is that it isn't necessarily reciprocal; ie, just because somebody follows me doesn't mean i necessarily have to follow them, and vise versa. This makes Twitter an intellectual meritocracy, much more so than Facebook or (gag) MySpace.

More here: In Defense of Twitter

Yes, Twitter is definitely not just another social network... it's something fundamentally new and different. It's a game changer.

What's really fascinating is how marketers are using Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and blogs as an ecosystem of community content. They leverage the strengths of each to create something greater than the sum of the parts, in terms of getting your message out.

The real value in Twitter is in the analysis of what people are "saying" - as opposed to "writing" - as they do with blogs, in order to build a killer customer profile for search advertising. That's why Google is probably going to buy them.

PS, actually I LOVE Twitter. I'm just afraid of the time suckage it will invariably cause in my life.

Fantastic post. Learned much. thank you!

Ha. The geek communities who use it internally already are half autistic, so it doesn't matter. ;)

It's just another way to be able to communicate with other people without them deciding that you're "slimy" or something because of your physical actions which have nothing to do with what you're saying.

In fact, how would this "turn people into" people with Asperger's? That's something you're born with. A psych site should know better.

Naw, just ignore anyone you don't care about. Small focused communities are entirely possible. Other people can just looking. It is very odd...

Thanks for these posts - very interesting, enjoyed them.

A couple of things:

Firstly, I think there's a difference between people who use the medium actively and those that engage without thinking too much. "Passively," if you will. Some people's psyche's are clearly writ large in Tweets, but this is probably - as with all social networking activity - because it's something new; the norms and conventions are being worked out right in front of us with every tweet.

Eventually, I suspect that people will have more pre-existing knowledge of the medium and that will stop them from being quite so unthinking and open. It's a bit like my mum getting email - at first she just forwarded every lame joke / virus warning / AOL will give you 50c... type message. Now she can use it properly.

Secondly, a mention re that Greenfield woman. Her comments become less interesting once you realise that (a) she has used very little scientific thinking in her "work" [http://www.badscience.net/2009/02/the-evidence-aric-sigman-ignored/] and (b) she was involved in the launch of a "brain training" game at the same time!

ATB

E

You wrote:
"In fact, how would this 'turn people into' people with Asperger's? That's something you're born with. A psych site should know better."

I should clarify that I am not a psychologist. I write an article about the "inner" aspects of technology and innovation.

As for Aspergers, my understanding was that while it's known that there IS a genetic component to AS and the other ASDs because of their tendency to run in families, a specific gene for AS has never been identified. I've also read that social reinforcement for AS-type behavior within such families was still considered plausible.

Anyway, what I'll do is ask the editor to get an expert on Aspergers to contribute here, and I'll correct my article. How's that sound?

Thanks for bringing this up!

Your comment about a difference between people who use the medium actively and those that engage without thinking too much is spot on.

To continue my swimming analogy, some are floating down the river in a raft, having a great time drinking beer... but those rarely get wet. I was interested in the ones who are swimming like dolphins, and have demonstrated an ability to master the medium of twitter. This article was all about my attempt to swim with the dolphins...

This is a great article. I've enjoyed Twitter since getting on to it in January, but struggle greatly with it's addictiveness.

I"m hoping that we DO develop sort of a Global Brain. I'm encouraged that the internet has facilitated the emergence of a slow global solidarity movement in relation to global warming: Earth Hour, Live Earth, Transition Towns. The first two get lots of corporate sponsors, the last one none.

This sort of thinking (global conscious evolution), while it can devolve into unthinking new age tripe, was a close cousin of the Third Force Psychology movement which had Maslow's pyramid of needs at its center.

I don't think it's inevitable that we'll make the right choices, and John Michael Greer has blogged well about that. Ironically, every Wednesday, hundreds or thousands of us tune in to hear what he has to say this week-- a global simultaneous movement.

I DO struggle to read books these days-- we need to talk more about short attention spans.

Thanks for the thought-provoking comment, I've put John Michael Greer's blog on my reading list.

An interesting gedanken experiment comes by mapping the evolution of psychology movements to the evolution of the Internet. Something like seeing psychoanalysis as web 1.0 - about initial self-awareness, behaviorism as web 2.0 - all about tuning the web experience for addictive behavior... and arriving to the emergence of third force models with web 3.0. So the three forces align with the three waves of web evolution.

What do the rest of you think? Is this stretching to make a pretty model, or is there something meaningful in this line of thought?

Enjoyed this article and hope you don't mind a few thoughts?! Should mention that we run a site call harmoniker.com and this subject is close to our hearts.

1) Twitter has increased the "resolution" at which we share our daily lives. Technology will eventually report our every action and thought without requiring our intervention. "Check this box to share your optic nerve impulses with friends" :)
2) As such, we will become as interested (or disinterested) in these reports as we are today with the people around us.
3) You mention "we crave connection". Perhaps you meant this already but I'd suggest that we actually crave "friendship" or at least a "mutually beneficial" connection. The word "connection" has perhaps led us to a controversial juncture, with "tribes" in the past and "ADHD" in the future? Which way will we go?
4) I believe that evolution is inverting Maslow's hierarchy. Our triangle will eventually balance upon a pointed base as the balance of our physical, biological, social and spiritual needs changes. A little "scifi" perhaps" but where else are we headed but the future?
5) Comment: "flame wars happen, due to the loss of empathy". Completely agree. Empathy however is difficult to achieve between individuals "connected" on any premise as tenuous as a "quick bio" or "the last 10 tweets". If we only have a single point of connection (the topic in a chatroom or the subject of a message forum), then it's our DISsimilar traits that will cause (sometimes) irrational responses or "flames" to our seemingly innocuous comments.
6) Connective technologies have encouraged the dilution of relationships - focusing on quantity rather than quality. We try to engage more people rather than nurture the relationships that will work best.
7) You mention that Twitter "removes boundaries". Well, we think we're better at that on Harmoniker ;). The voices of those around you simply "fade" as their interests become further removed from your own. We don't like boundaries. We are halfway between "people you know and like" (Facebook) and "people you don't know and may like" (Twitter)

Great article. Perhaps there should be something similar to "Godwin's Law" that calculates the likelyhood that Maslow will be invoked on any given topic? ;)

"Moses Ma's Maslow Law"? (please RT :)

Twitter is a marketers wet dream, and really excites anyone who has to sell something, themselves or a product, but for the rest of us, it's this years macarena. You forgot to mention that 99% of people who sign up for an account post one tweet and then never come back.

Thanks much for these articles! Aside from being fun, they bring up a lot of great views on the "Twitterverse"

I opened a Twitter account a year or so ago just to see what all the fuss was about. I didn't get into until a social media marketing expert (Bridget Ayers - big tweeter) spoke about the marketing applications Twitter has for promoting my business - or at least for entertaining and informing people in the demographic of my target audience.

I'm having more fun with it now that I have a focus - tweets with links or thoughts on psychology. I'm not sure I would have enjoyed it just for the sake of being able to tweet into the void. No hate tweets yet, but I'm still a newbie :-)

Hello,

Very interesting read (this one and the first part), but.... the link to the last part:

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-tao-innovation/200904/wrapping-t...

does not work.

Could you fix it please?

Regards.