Globe's Alex Beam Hates Twitter. He just doesn't get it.

Trolling the interwebs today and I came across a twitter post about Alex Beam's article in today's Boston Globe about Twitter. To sum it up, Alex basically hates it. He doesn't understand the 140 character thing. He doesn't understand why I would want to read short blurbs on my cell phone as to what people are doing at that exact moment.

I think Alex just doesn't get it and is one of those 50+, old scribe types that doesn't understand the real use of today's internet and socialnet tools like Twitter.

So Alex, if you're reading this, here are some practical examples of Twitter that supports the use of the service.

- @comcastcares: you promptly crapped on Comcast (rightfully so), but, this is an attempt by a company (that has reputation management issues) to work closer with their customers. Case in point...I was having some digital signal issues and I sent a note to Frank @comcastcares. He immediately checked into it and helped me schedule a tech to visit the house. The service is so popular that @comcastcares has had to expand it's staff. It's chipping away at that bad reputation, one twit at a time.

- @jimrattray: Jim is a client of mine. I never worked on his piece of business because it's a smaller scale account, led by our MD. However, Jim was interested in Twitter and the use of it. We started chatting over Twitter about socialnet and have build a relationship that has been fruitful for both him and I. Client service is a number one priority with our firm and working with Jim over Twitter has been a pleasant experience, one that contributes to his engagement with my firm.

- @magichat: I'm a big fan of Magic Hat beer. I recently discovered that Magic Hat was Twittering. Since then, I've had a conversation with them about their socialnet site for Magic Hat beer loves. Where else can a consumer interact with a popular brand and provide feedback that they will actually listen to? This sort of feedback is extremely helpful to businesses. The best part is that there is no real cost to the company. They are getting my (and others) raw feedback without having to spend money on surveys, mailers, phone calls, etc.

- @espn: These days, when I hear about breaking news, it's mostly on Twitter. Twitter is basically a global AP feed - not only comprised of journalists who use twitter, but also civilian journalists. Whether it's espn, the NYT, US News & World Report, I'm reading about breaking news well before it hits YOUR Boston.com or is on TV.

These are just a few reasons why Twitter is here to stay. So Alex, just because you don't see any practical use for it, doesn't mean that it's not useful. I would guarantee you that 90% of the people on Twitter would support me in my argument. My guess is that you HAD to write this story because it's trendy. You couldn't ignore it anymore. You might have signed up for an account and spent about 10 mins trolling around.

I expect more from the Globe and more from seasoned journalist like yourself. Do your homework. Talk to both sides of story and report what you hear, not what you see in 10 minutes.


P.S. If you want to continue this conversation, I'll be @bigguyd.