Change is neither good nor bad. It simply is.
http://bit.ly/7mkt5B

As those who know me know, I'm more of a Twitter user (http://twitter.com/howlvenice). I remember almost two years ago saying how i thought Twitter was the Facebook killer. And to this day, i spend 10 times as much time on Twitter as I do on FB...which still isn't that much, because maybe I spend 10 mins on FB a day. But still you get the idea.

But this summer, I began to think the opposite. Twitter is definitely an incredibly powerful tool. And even though it's UX is still horrendous, luckily through their API, there are so  many ways to interact with it, it doesn't matter.

I recently did a post about watching Mad Men (http://bit.ly/13Iqnb) while on Twitter and what an enriching that experience was.   On Twitter, we follow events in real time for a long time. It's not a simple statement or single post but as we call it now a stream..flowing over time and tweets. And we experience the event together as it happens.

And only on Twitter do companies reach out to customers and address needs, become personified through their tweets. At the recent  (http://140conf.com/)140 conf in LA, I heard Porter Gale (@porterVA), the VP  of Marketing at Virgin Atlantic, describe situations where passengers complained about food on a flight through Twitter and their Twitter rep saw it, got in contact with the flight attendant, and rectified the problem. Obviously, that doesn't happen every time, but it does highlight a value unique to Twitter.

But these attributes will likely be adopted by FB soon. The Twitter edge is not that impossible to copy. And with FB's acquisition of FriendFeed in August  (http://bit.ly/3SLooO) that kind of interaction is probably on its way. Twitter's is growth is flattening with 60% of users only tweeting once, and 10% of the users accounting for 90% of the content.

In the meantime,  obviously FB's audience has increased exponentially, and is not diminishing. With over currently 325,000,000 users, they are adding half a million users every day (http://bit.ly/rDa15) and those users are spending over 20 mins per day on the site, that's a lot of attention.  So it's no surprise that corporations are pouring development and advertising dollars there, and thereby also winning fans. And working at an interactive agency, we encourage our clients to use the flexibility and promotional opportunities of FB's platform,  in order to enhance the audience engagement which is as varied and interactive as their budget allows.

Twitter, on the other hand, really only has the 140 character call and response dynamic. No contests, no treasure hunts, no real branding.   

It's the user that will drive the platform of choice, not the corporation, and users are already doing that. Essentially people follow the path of least resistance, and if they can interact with their friends, their family and their favorite corporations in one place,  and win contests, get free stuff and purchase as well..it just seems to me, why go anyplace else?

Is twatching a word? I think it should be. It's what I do when I watch MadMen. I love everything about the show, the acting, the writing, the production design, the fashion, and of course, the actors..although I'd never want Don as a husband, nor Sally as a daughter, nor certainly Betty as a mother. With only 3 more episodes left, I'm already dreading the end of participating in their late night love affairs, and daytime office dramas.

One other thing I love about watching MadMen is being on twitter (or specifically tweetdeck) while I'm watching. It's like having a very large group of friends over and we're all watching our favorite show together. The fact that we don't know each other doesn't seem to matter at all. Many times my MadMen twitter companions, none of whom I normally follow, give me inside info about Matt Weiner, the show's creator, teaching me his secret themes and revealing hidden gems. I never knew that he uses orange to signal death. And currently there's a theme emerging that Don may end up in Dallas in November just in time for Kennedy's assassination. Obviously, you have to be a MadMen fan to even care about these details, and I am and I do.

The simple joy of sharing the plot's twists and turns in real time with others who love the show as much as I do is the real benefit. Like the episode when the new Sterling Cooper CEO came across the pond from England to meet the employees and had his ankle severed by a lawn mower in front of everyone, it was intrinsically more shocking to know everyone else was just as shocked as I.

And last week's episode highlighted the power of this collective dynamic ever more forcefully when Betty found the key to Don's secret drawer. Watching my twitter stream, it was clear we were all dying to know if she would find out his secret past (and we would too of course), but we were all doing it together in real time. And when all the tweeters are posting "OH NO NOT THE DRAWER!" or "Uh oh uh oh uh oh uh oh uh oh", the suspense becomes even more palpable. For me, this is a very new experience and surprisingly it does not distract, but rather enhances, my engagement with the show.

The same thing happened with Obama's inauguration. It was such a historic event, and I watched most of it on TV, but I was on twitter at the same time, getting impressions from many other people all around the world (not just through CNN's reporters) as well as contributing, in real time, during the entire ceremony. Facebook can't provide that kind of broad conversation second by second over a 60 minute or 4 hour timeframe. There's no doubt now that Twitter really is a very very powerful communication tool.

The old paradigm of how we experience an event has changed forever We used to watch television with our families or close friends, and then discuss it following day by the water cooler. At a rock concert, even though you're with thousands of people, you really only speak to the friends you are there with--if they can even hear you. And you're not even allowed to talk in movie theaters. But all of that has changed. So if you're not on Twitter, get in the stream with the rest of us. And whatever you're interested in, I'm sure there's a hashtag for it!

"Glengarry Glen Ross" is without doubt one of my favorite movies--it gets a 98% from Rotten Tomatoes (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/glengarry_glen_ross/) , and David Mamet is one of my favorite writers. There are so many memorable moments in this movie, but I can watch this brutal scene of Alec Baldwin as Blake railing at Jack Lemmon and Ed Harris over and over again. And I wouldn't ever attempt to rewrite Mamet, but in trying to relate these powerful words to my life, I keep thinking instead of A-B-C. A-Always, B-Be, C-Closing. Always be closing, I would say A-B-T, A-Always B-Be T-Tweaking. Always Be Tweaking.

I love creating, refining, making things come to life in a fluid and flexible way. It's very much like a journey, once you begin you know where you're going, but how you get there, the twists and turns you must take, are not always clearly defined. And I know so well that with each new twist and turn, something I hadn't thought of can become integral to the end product, making it richer in a way I hadn't anticipated from the start. So one thing I'm sure of is I enjoy the serendipity of the process, and if I can, I will avoid working for any Alec Baldwins. otherwise I may end up with a set of steak knives, or worse, a product with no soul.

I am a MadMen fan which says a lot for the show because I usually don't watch television. There really aren't any shows I find particularly interesting and there so many other more productive things to do, possibly involving twitter and posterous. But I do watch MadMen; in fact, I even know what day and time it comes on (tho I still can't remember the channel number for AMC). Beyond the time capsule of design which is a feast for the eyes, the behavioral patterns and cultural references are also fascinating. But I have to say the writing is one of the main draws for me. And last week's episode stands out in my mind for one quote in particular.
Don says " ..change is neither good nor bad. It simply is."
 
I have been pondering it's clarity over the past few days, and feel that i would like to add to it ---hopefully without complicating it further. But simply to say, Change is. Lead it or it leads you. In fact, don't just lead it. Live it.
 Heather
 
whitelaird@yahoo.com
twitter.com/howlvenice