I’d have to agree with them that Twitter is just . . . a bit much. I think there’s some value to filtering out what information is relevant, and a lot of what’s going on with Twitter is just word vomit.

Thanks for continuing this discussion, Ed. You’re right in that this situation isn’t unique. And actually, this was a group of NYU grad students in a master’s program in Public Relations and Corporate Communications, many of whom are currently working in the industry while getting their master’s degree. (I also encountered the same thing last month with a Wharton MBA group.) Many of them are familiar with Twitter (and other social media tools beyond Facebook), but are more observers/viewers than users or participants. The same is true for many business audiences I speak with - I’ve heard over and over, when is enough, enough? I have to admit, after starting in with Twitter earlier this year, I took a sabbatical for awhile, recently reentering the fold. For both business & academic audiences, I usually stress that even if you decide that Twitter isn’t for you, you have to at least familiarize yourself with it and begin to understand the conversations and opportunities it presents. The encouraging thing for me is that over the last year, I’ve seen a definite increase in these students social media “literacy.”

Well, I am a grad student at this point too, so you may want to dismiss my idea on the same ground as that of grad. student you mention in the post, but I tend to disagree with your conclusion, Ed. I think that the main takeaway point from what the students said (as well as what apparently Wharton students said) is that we should be thoughtful and critical about our media environments.

On the one hand, there is a lot of media out there and it cannot be the role of everyone to be an active player in each medium. I agree with Laurel that it is important to be familiar with the what is out there, but it does not mean that we all need to be actively using every single channel out there. On the other hand, each medium is good for answering particular needs and there is no single answer to all our communication needs at once. As our needs vary, so should be the channels we choose to active employ. I think it is more productive and it indicates a better understanding of contemporary media, when you know what to use and when. Trying to do everything at once is counterproductive.

I also think we should move beyond the dichotomous distinction between Luddites and technocrats. For example, I consider myself a technological junkie. But because of that I also am trying to practice a CommFree day - a day a month where I shut my communication technology devices down completely. I think it is healthy and also gives an opportunity to reflect on what is the most efficient way for me to utilize this wealth of communication channels around me.

The biggest mistake that I see is that people want to use many of these sites as just another communication channel, they forget that first and foremost these sites are a community.

You can’t just jump in to a community, vomit out “hey check out xyz…its awesome” and expect to have any luck. Time must be invested learning the unique culture/voice, building trust and possibly even offering up value first long before you ever make a pitch. If you want juicy tomatoes you can’t plant today and expect to harvest tomorrow.

As a marketing professional time and time again I see people that just want to “use” a community for their gain….be it a link drop here, a call to action there…maybe an astro-turfed review….whatever they don’t understand that you have to have some “trust” built up before you try a stunt like that. You also have to realize that you can’t keep robbing the “trust bank” without putting something back in.

Unfortunately in today’s day an age that means planting tons of seeds (registering/actively participating)…you have to farm these channels/communities…it takes time.

Expect a large majority of the successful web companies of the future to be focused on helping you simply manage and filter the signal from the noise.