The Internet is overabundant with information, and the streams are always flowing. If you’re like me, you’re about neck deep in rising floodwaters of data. Google Reader always shows “1000+ unread feeds” and my Twitter homepage moves faster than I can read. For the sake of productivity and sanity, I try to filter and prioritize my incoming information streams. I barely keep my head above water.
Thankfully, smart content filtering and recommendation technology is always improving. But the problem really lies at the source: too little signal drowned out by too much noise.
“Signal” is anything that has value to you. “Noise” is everything that doesn’t. Please note, I use the word “value” loosely here. Anything useful, anything that makes you laugh or brings you enjoyment, has value for you.
Signal, noise, and value are all relative terms of course. But disdain for navel-gazing is nigh universal. Those fifteen updates about your cat in the last hour are wasting 99% of your readers’ time, and that’s a conservative estimate.
Microblogging is a new technology, meaning microblogging etiquette is still in its infancy. We’re all still figuring out the best ways to do it. But the bigger problem isn’t that rules are too underdeveloped, it’s that too many users aren’t aware of what’s already become standard.
There’s no Ms. Manners of Twitter (yet), but some basic twetiquette guidelines are accepted by pretty much everyone who’s paying attention. Things like “don’t retweet without crediting the original source,” “listen more than you speak” and “don’t tweet in all caps” are little more than practical extensions of common courtesy.
In the vein of meatspace manners made web 2.0, I propose this Golden Rule of Microblogging: Tweet unto others what you would have them tweet unto you. In other words, before you click the share or send button, simply ask yourself “Would this have value to my readers?” If it only has value to one other person (@replies excluded), send a private message or wall post instead. If you doubt your post has value to anyone but yourself, you should probably just skip it; publicly posting your update would be like interrupting a conversation with a pointless non-sequitur.
“Well, I think Mary makes a good point. Pants should be considered optional in your own home.”
“Thanks, Paul. I personally prefer hideous sweatpants, but I think everyone has the right to sit around in just their tighty-whities if they wish. What do you think, Steve?”
“I served enchiladas on my last birthday!”
In other words, you’d be a douche.
As microblogging becomes ubiquitous, fixing the signal-noise ratio will become increasingly important. We’re all broadcasters now, and we have broadcasters’ responsibilities. If you broadcast via radio, you don’t jam the airwaves with noise. If you broadcast via the Internet, you don’t jam friends’ news feeds with noise. Like any etiquette of communication, the real point is to establish rules that best facilitate communication for everyone involved—that means best for sender and receiver.
To aid passive-aggressive signal-soldiers everywhere, I’ve prepared two web pages for immediate distribution. Show someone your appreciation by linking them to bit.ly/wowasignal, or voice your scorn with bit.ly/toomuchnoise.
I’d love to hear your thoughts. Is this a lost cause? Will the signal-noise ratio improve as society and technology evolve?
-Jeremiah