How to Be Somewhat Useless on Twitter

Over at The Big Money, Mark Gimein looks at Twitter, and the possibility that they’re facing a “No one goes there anymore; it’s too crowded”* moment:

In the recent history of technology, we’ve often been told of the value of “network effects.” Much of our experience of technology is with positive network effects and increasing returns as more people take advantage of it. An obvious example is e-mail; the more people use it to communicate, the more useful it is. Yet network effects can also be negative. A park that is popular becomes more vibrant and appealing. But a park that gets too popular is just crowded. Twitter’s growth has been so rapid that it is clearly bumping up against the limits of its usefulness. It is not only increasingly full of noise, but the sheer volume of stuff coming through the Twitter fire hose renders even what was useful much harder to pick apart and make sense of. [emphasis mine]

Speaking very broadly, at issue is the very basic problem of what happens when everyone is encouraged to be a vocal self-promoter, and several times a day. One of the concerns I had when starting this site–something I would not have done if I didn’t have a book to promote last year–is precisely this law of collective diminishing returns. Continues Gimein:

The real issue with Twitter as it grows bigger is not how few people send out messages but how extremely prolific the top Twitterers are—and how profligate many users are in pressing the “follow” button. I am only an occasional Twitterer. Right now I follow 27 Twitter feeds. By Twitter standards, this is not by any means a big number, but I already find myself overwhelmed by the volume of messages these 27 people alone generate. Most of my followers follow many more than 27 streams; about 200 feeds is typical, and one follows 3,057. If I can’t keep up with the mere two dozen or so people I follow (I’ve had to turn off the beeping notifications on TweetDeck to avoid distraction), I can’t even imagine what it must be like for someone to “follow” 3,000-plus people. How much attention she can possibly pay to any of my tweets is very small.

I’m reminded of an anonymous comment posted on a site I once visited regularly, and if I copied it correctly it went something like this: “The fact that the tools with which to make a rampaging asshole of yourself exist doesn’t mandate that you use them.” I’d add this: Broadcasting the ephemeral minutae of your life to anyone who’ll listen suggests a kind of neediness. These extremely prolific Tweeters must be expecting a return of some kind (or else they’re just manic narcissists). And perhaps their attention-grabbing does pay off, be it in good feelings or cash money. But I’ve a hard time imagining a scenario in which, unless their Tweets fulfill specific needs–by which I mean OTHER PEOPLE’S NEEDS, not their own–it will benefit them for long. Capitalism can only absorb so many self-promoters; instead it requires legions of other-directed people. Or so I’ve been thinking lately, underbaked as my musings on the subject are. To be continued.

*That’s Yogi Berra, sportsfans.

Thanks but no thanks

Not long ago I received a one-page notice from the Corporate Records Compliance Office informing me that:

“New York State Business Corporation Law Article Six requires non-exempt New York corporations to hold annual meetings of shareholders for elections of directors and conduct of other business, to appoint one or more inspectors and make a written report of meetings and to keep minutes of meetings of shareholders, directors and officers in written form or in form capable of reproduction to written form in a reasonable time.”

The notice looked like any other that occasionally arrives in the mail to warn me of impending changes in state unemployment insurance law. The top half of the letter listed the incorporation date of Wherewithal Press (the name of my small business), plus a mysterious “Secretary of State No.” It informed me I was “CRCO file no. 283686NYN1.” The bottom half included a table where I could list company officers and directors, plus instructions for what to do if I ran out of room.

The consequences of non-compliance, the letter stated, was “personal liability of the corporation’s shareholders, directors and officers for all corporation debts and obligations.” Which is funny, because the whole point of a corporation is to get out from under the major profit drag that is “personal liability,” but whatever. Moving on. The CRCO assured me that compliance was guaranteed if I’d simply fill out the table as instructed, and enclose it plus a check for $120 in the envelope provided.

In return, the CRCO would send me a “Certificate of Minutes of Board of Directors and Shareholders” within 3 weeks. This would keep those pesky feds off my back. Here’s the letter:

What you see there at the bottom is a short disclaimer: “Participation in the services offered by CRCO is voluntary and elective.” Opposite the gray-shaded box demanding $120.00 is another gray-shaded box, this one adding that “[t]his service has not been approved or endorsed by any government agency and this offer is not being made by an agency of the government. This is not a bill.”

Ohhhhhhh. I see. So I guess that gets them off the hook for mail fraud.

The address given for the Corporate Records Compliance Office, by the way, is 125 Wolf Rd. Ste. #306, Albany, NY 12205.