"Twitter"ing in Japan

Last night, I attended a session of Tokyo2point0. It was my first one. Not bad. The presentations are given in bilingual English / Nihongo. The 2nd presentation last night was on Twitter Japan.

What's all a"twitter" about Japan Twitter? It seems that almost 40 percent of international (outside USA) twitter traffic comes from Japan. Of all the large cities in the world, Tokyo has the largest number of twitterers. Japan Twitter is the testbed for twitter with ad-sidebars. Apparently all other twitter countries don't make money on advertisements on the website. Tokyo's twitter population is greater than that of San Fran and New York's populations combined (they rank 2 and 3, respectively). Tronto (yes, it was spelled like that on the slides last night), or for all those who don't like to pronounce it in such a slangy way, Toronto, is ranked 14th in terms of number of tweeters.

The creator of twitter is also the creator of blogger (he has since sold the site to Google). FYI, this blog is hosted on Google's blogger site in case you didn't already figure that out from the web address. It seems that Tokyo Twitters tweet the most often on any given day. What's a tweet? A tweet is a mini-blog that tells all your tweety friends what you're up to at this exact moment. It's micro-blogging, 140 characters at a time. It's like IM'ing, but instead of one of your friends seeing what it is that you are up to, all your tweety buddies see it. Think: small message, wider audience.

If you, like me, are a Facebook user, you may be asking yourself, "How is this different from updating your Facebook status?". Yes, I wondered last night ... "How?". All the die-hard tweeters would tell you that it is so vastly differently. I guess it's a one application wonder without all the silliness of getting invites to useless applications like Vampires vs. Werewolves or the like. Don't ask, don't tell. It really is as ridiculous as the name suggests.

The addicted Facebook user will tell you that you there is something to one-shop time wasting with the current plethora of Facebook apps. The fact that the status update sidebar comes standard with all Facebook accounts tells you just how important the makers of Facebook think it is to broadcast your by-the-second status.

But, how many tweets is enough in a day? How much is too much? Do my friends and colleagues really need to know when I'm a washroom break? Or that I've gone to get some coffee? Or that I've ripped my pantyhose and am seriously contemplating pretending that I don't see it so that I don't have to run out and buy a new pair?

Last night, I learned that Twitter does have it's workplace uses, but I only learned this in the post-presentation networking and "dinner" time (dinner in quotes because ... well... that was such a sad dinner - sad like bad in the same way that phat means good). For instance, if you have a team of people reporting to you and you are a control freak, then why not get your entire team to sign up to Twitter and add you as a fellow tweeter. That way you can tell when Johnny is going to be late for the team meeting because customer X is hounding him with more questions than he had expected or prepared for. Also, you can monitor when Sue is going to the bathroom and how often. If it's too much, she may be pregnant and you may not want to put her on the team that must be ready to do anything at any moment. Not that I would ever advocate this as a team-building strategy but the cynic in me sees some potential for nefarious uses. Maybe I should just stick to being an optimist.

And like most people who IM, they probably have work friends and social friends and even family that they keep in the loop. But does your wife / husband need to know that you were late for 2 work meetings during the day? Or only that because of that, she/he will now be late/not present for dinner at home? I personally would only want to know when/if. All the other stuff, is just stuff.

I have read in two independent sources that Twitter is superbig in Japan. But still I am resisting. However, you can twitter on your keitai. If only my ability to read Japanese characters quickly on a monitor a third the size of my palm were better or at least adequate. There is also a Twitterfox add-on. Now we're talking.

Not sold on being a tweeter, but being a twitterfox just sounds so sexy doesn't it? Who wouldn't want to be one?

If I were a twitterfox, I would write, "I am now doing pilates".