The Hidden Gems In Twitter's Tower Of Babble

Do two recent studies prove that Twitter is a waste of time? That's the prevailing wisdom -- and here is why it's wrong.Last week, a Pear Analytics study concluded that three quarters of all Twitter sends fell into two categories: "pointless babble" and bits of running conversations.

Sends that fall into the second category aren't necessarily worthless, but they don't qualify as meaningful one-to-many communication, either.

According to Pear Analytics, about 13 percent of the Twitter sends it analyzed fell into two generally useful categories: news and "re-tweets" of information with significant pass-along value.

A second study focused on a list of notable Twitter users, based on a combination of posting frequency and popularity. Blogger Michael Hickins sums up the results this way: "Excluding news sites, most prolific Tweeters are either new media marketing types . . . or tech mavens promoting their respective consulting and speaking businesses."

All of this pointless babble, however, does not prove that Twitter is a failure. In fact, it may ensure just the opposite.

Twitter shares some key traits with other, historically successful, online services. First, it has captured the public imagination. Second, it is accessible, easy to use, and highly malleable. (Witness its quick appearance on millions of mobile devices.)

Third, and most important, Twitter attracts curiosity-seekers the way raw meat draws hungry dogs. People have stumbled across this fascinating new tool; most of them aren't yet sure exactly what to do with it. So they bang on it, poke and prod it, exercise their imaginations, and see what happens.

This is a familiar game. Our ancestors played it back when they were still sleeping in treetops.

We find some curious new item and play around with it. Some of us get bored and wander away. Others make asses out of themselves in front of the group -- some know it, some don't. A few manage to impale themselves on the thing and get scraped out of the gene pool.

And then there are the ones who actually figure out how to turn a curiosity into a practical, valuable tool.

Under the circumstances, I don't think it's disappointing that only 13 percent of all Twitter sends impart useful information. That is actually a great signal-to-noise ratio for a service that has a long way to go before it escapes the "bang on it and see what it does" phase.

So don't buy all of the pointless babble about "pointless babble." At least not yet. If you think that your business can take advantage of the Twitter platform -- as so many other businesses already have -- then wade in and start experimenting. There may be a lot to gain from the effort and very little to lose.

Just think before you tweet, okay? Nobody -- and I mean nobody -- cares what you had for lunch.