Watercooler: The Next Generation
“Twittah, Twittah, Twittah!” -Zadi Diaz, Epic Fu
I went to a meeting the other day and while I was waiting in the lobby a bunch of people started talking about Twitter… so, naturally, I couldn’t help but butt in.
When I told them I was on Twitter and that I just Twittered 5 minutes ago from that very location, they preceded to ask question after question…
“What do you Twitter about?”
“How many times do you Twitter a day?”
“Do you HAVE to follow everyone?”
(It was kind of sweet, actually, because when the executive I was there to meet came down to the lobby I was surrounded by a swarm of Twitter groupies.)
Over the past 2 years, I’ve been thinking of Twitter mostly as a marketing tool – and part of that is developing an audience WITHOUT marketing, but instead sharing links and anecdotes pertinent to the subject you would normally want to advertise. But, after talking to these n00bs in the lobby about how I use Twitter I realized something deeper… Twitter is my water cooler.
Twitter is the place I go to when I’m not in the headspace to work. The place I go when I need a break. The place I get my news, gossip and information about my friends. And, as someone who works from home, Twitter filled a real gap in my social life (anti-social life?).
Just a thought. /thought.
Above photo courtesy of CC Chapman.








I use twitter to ‘reach out’. Also as all humans require; a sense of belonging to something bigger than ourselves. Plus it’s just so fun.
I agree, Gary. I reach out sometimes too… but you never know how people will react if they don’t know you already :P I <3 Twitter… I could never give it up.
Yea, 8 months ago I didn’t understand what twitter was all about. I don’t know how I could live with out it now. Twitter keeps me up to date on what’s going on the internets and i found out about a lot cool people on twitter!
great post! this is a perfect analogy.
Same here. When I have “coder’s block” I just tweet for a few mins and my head gets a bit cleared up and then I can get back to work. Its like a multi-vitamin.