The Twitter Rant That Lost Its Bite

I’ve had a rant in my head for days now about why I don’t need or want Twitter — the new (or not so new if you’re on Internet time) microblogging tool that’s taking the Web 2.0 cognesti by storm and generating controversy. See here and here.

The reason I feel so antagonistic toward time sucks like Twitter and Facebook is because I spend a fair amount of time actually interacting in the real world.

I walk my dogs through my tree-lined neighborhood where I stop and talk to neighbors.

I visit the gym at least three times a week and work out with a group of women — all of whom I’ve come to know very well. 

And, I have face-to-face meetings with clients and lunch with friends.

I know those of us who are active online think all these new things, like blogging, Facebook, Twitter, Meebo (which is actually pretty useful), and Digg are way cool and life changing and my gosh, how did we ever live without them?

The fact of the matter is, quite a few people live without them, thank you very much. And they are quite happy, too.

The other reason I feel so antagonistic toward things like Facebook and Twitter is because I simply don’t have time to manage all this *stuff.*

In addition to doing my paid work, I’m also quoting projects, writing two newsletters a month, developing products to sell, coming up with new ideas, reading everything under the sun, writing articles, and answering email, which seems to be never-ending some days.

That’s in addition to being a wife and a mom — and quite frankly, unlike Scoble, I do not choose to post a “Tweet” over spending time with my son. (I creamed him at Stratego this evening, hahaha.)

But today I listened to a great “Think Big” teleclass hosted by Elizabeth Marshall, a colleague of Michael Port, author of Beyond Booked Solid.

As I listened to Elizabeth talk about how to reach influential people by reading their Facebook, Twitter, and blog posts, it dawned on me that these tools have their place and time — and that yes, they can be used for something other than wasting a lot of time.

A Facebook or LinkedIn profile allows other people to learn a little more about you. If you have the time, you can follow one or two people on Twitter and learn their likes and dislikes and what they care about.

You can then use this information as a way to open a relationship with these people that can then benefit you both at a later date.

So, once the teleclass was done, my rant quickly deflated, and I came to the place where I always end up — right in the middle.

What’s your opinion? Do you think social networking is a lot of hot air? Or do you think it has a place in a marketer’s toolbox?