bing.com or Why I don't Tweet

A friend called this morning to ask why, on earth, I'm not on Facebook, and why, pray tell, I have no Twitter account. You have to understand, he's a Web 2.0 guru of sorts, managing his own 400 member community of bloggers and constantly experimenting with better ways to connect people.

He's the perfect person to ask me these questions because he has thought through them and cares enough to discern whether they'd be a good fit for me.

I suppose several road blocks explain my abstention from these magical tools so far. Today, I'll highlight one of them: I'm a content guy. Yes, I like information and curiosities and news bits, but I tend to spend more time on the bigger questions behind them. Yes, I can chit-chat with friends and strangers, but I tend toward more substantial content in conversations and I prefer to go there quickly. In movie terms, I'll watch Gattaca or The Truman Show long before Die Hard or Indiana Jones.

"Why" is my favorite content question, and I get energized when Whys lead to other Whys and occasionally reveal a single common Because. This type of exploration takes time, which makes a blog useful to me. New Breed of Advertisers provides this exploration outlet to discuss Whys and Becauses related to marketing. It's a slow, long conversation about a single subject and how that subject affects the world around us as well as inside us.



This commercial for bing.com speaks to me. Bing claims to be the antidote, or at least a discernment tool, for information overload. I don't really think Bing can play this role, but I like the idea. It confirms that focussed, filtered, content-rich conversations help us communicate more meaningfully.

Maybe I haven't added Facebook or Twitter because they threaten to fragment these conversations.

10 comments:

M.joshua June 11, 2009 at 4:06 PM  

As a designer, the first thing that comes to mind when people talk about Bing is that the logo is such a bastardized typeface that it's over 60% wider than it should be.

I like the idea of less info. It can be very helpful.

Now if I can get over my information addiction...

Marcus Goodyear June 11, 2009 at 6:05 PM  

I'm not addicted to information. Who said I was? Not me. I can turn it off at any moment.

Really. I can.

Facebook, Twitter, blogs, search engines, Internet Movie Database, Netflix, Last.fm, Blip.fm, LinkedIn, who needs them?

Not me.

Unknown June 11, 2009 at 8:08 PM  

I actually get jealous of a friend who seems to know a little about a lot, Josh. He remembers almost everything he reads and reads so much. Maybe I'd be more addicted to info if I were better at retaining it.

Marcus, I reread the post and realized I may have made you sound like THAT guy who prefers Die Hard and Indiana Jones. I did say you're a community leader and even used the word "perfect" in describing you. That's gotta redeem me.

I'll be praying for your problem. There should be a 12 step program for your issues.

Every Square Inch June 13, 2009 at 7:59 PM  

Sam -

Marcus is a web 2.0 guru...but he also has a serious web 2.0 problem...perhaps it's time for an intervention? ;-)

Actually, not all social media platforms are similar although they get lumped together. I, for one believe that Twitter has narrow appeal and is reaching its peak. Check out this post on my other blog... http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/cloudtalk/2009/05/is_twitters_growth_sustainable.php

Yes, I have another blog, plus Facebook and Twitter - come to think of it, I probably need an intervention

Michele Corbett June 14, 2009 at 7:26 PM  

I love that bing.com commercial! It feels like my life these days. Between leading a new ministry, implementing a new brand at work, and buying new flooring for my condo, I don't know which direction to focus my research and information gathering. Can bing.com implant their services into my brain I wonder?

Unknown June 15, 2009 at 8:47 AM  

ESI, I think I can can pull something together for you and Marcus. Treatment will begin with solitude, continue slowly with smoke signal school and culminate with Semaphore training.

Yes, Michele, for a small fee.

L.L. Barkat June 19, 2009 at 9:15 PM  

Actually, I find they serve different purposes. A snatch of something on Twitter might spark something larger for me. Might not. But like this week's RAP, I tend to use anything for grist (so, a tweet became the basis for a post :)

But you gotta do what feels right for your life.

Unknown June 20, 2009 at 9:15 AM  

LL, I can see how your gift of seeing makes Twitter a grist mill for poetry content.

Bradley J Moore June 24, 2009 at 6:02 PM  

U R SO DEEP
twitter.com
@shrinkingcamel

Anonymous,  January 18, 2010 at 3:49 AM  

The ad is really cool, and Bing is climbing up percents of the market. As per bing.com revenue they already have 20 million unique users per day.

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