Reading the latest 'Twitter is a waste of time' post on Econsultancy made me think yet again about how long it takes for new technology or new tools to take root. In particular, outside of the inner sanctum of early adopters. One of the complaints about Twitter is that it's only used by online media types, journalists and (lately) aggressive sales types. What's the point of it to greengrocers, car manufacturers or reflexologists?
I came across this wonderful 1910 book 'The History of the Telephone' by Herbert Casson which, if you can see past the quaint style of writing, gives a great insight into how it was first received by the business community. Basically, they hated it. What was the point? How could it be used in business? What was the value of it?
Casson tells us the telephone didn't 'grow big and overspread the earth' until around 1896. That's nearly 20 years after the first regular phone line was constructed in the US.
Twitter has been around since 2006, and it's only been this year that the 'man in the street' has started to hear about it via the mainstream media, significantly since certain celebs have been using it. (A sad indictment of our national press that it only takes note of something new when there's a 'celebrity angle' - but that's another post!)
Yes, there's a great deal of hype about Twitter. But the fact that we can't stop talking about it must be an indication that there's something really exciting about it. I wish we could just all give it time, rather than be quick to 'pronounce' on its value to the world - can we really know that yet?
