The TMI of Twitter – Boundaries to Tweet By

I have a confession to make: I used to be a Twitter skeptic.  I blame it on my ongoing campaign against TMI (too much information), which I first launched after the onslaught of AOL Instant Messenger away messages.  I experienced a growing annoyance after reading the pedestrian tasks that some people feel the need to inform their buddy list about on a daily basis – “brushing my teeth,” “taking a shower,” “going to bed” – all updated continually so that the message is accurate.  Because, apparently, we need to know these things.  So when I was first introduced to Twitter, I took it as a glorified away message, a new platform where my “buddies” could update me on their whereabouts and whether or not they were going to be eating a Hot Pocket for lunch…and I initially refused to join and support the newest TMI phenomenon.

I recently did a search just to see how many people update their accounts with their mundane activities, using key phrases and going back just one day…because the results were much too expansive to reach back any further than that.  Here’s what I found, in descending order:

Going to bed: 1,500 tweets

Eating lunch: 975 tweets

Eating dinner: 619 tweets

Taking a shower: 259 tweets

Getting coffee: 120 tweets

Brushing my teeth: 67 tweets

Twitter actually addresses cynics like me directly on their website’s FAQ section, answering the question “Isn’t Twitter just too much information,” by responding, “You are only expected to pay as much or as little attention to [who you’re following] as you see fit.”  Basically, if you think someone is giving you TMI, ignore it – you don’t need to reply to any updates you receive unless you’re compelled to. 

Aside from useless information, some recent tweets have been downright inappropriate.  Singer Erykah Badu twittered through the birth of her daughter, sending this message to her followers: “Morning, I’m in labor.”  She then informed her fans about the timing of her contractions, until finally her husband had to take over (I think she had her hands full).  He proceeded to describe to the world that that baby was crowning: “I see the head, full of hair.”  Yikes.  And it’s not just the rich and famous live-Twittering the births of their children, everyday people are catching on.  The blogger here admits that while he was initially thrown by TMI, the birth story eventually “became more sweet than unsavory.” 

An LA mom was recently reprimanded for her TMI tweet, blogging, “If I smother my 3 year old, who will NOT GO TO F***ING SLEEP, is it REALLY a crime?”  Maybe this mother needs to get off of the internet and check into counseling, no?  An eagle-eyed follower actually saw the tweet and called the police, who came to check on the children.  They were safe in their beds, and hopefully mother dearest learned her lesson about airing her frustrations on such a public platform.   

Meanwhile, Fox News anchor Julie Banderas, a frequent Twitter user, decided to use the service to tweet about a plane crash that claimed 48 lives.  Is this pure information-share, or is it crossing the line and disrespecting the victims? 

InformationWeek’s John Foley wrote an interesting blog post about Twitter TMI, pointing out, “It’s no wonder that Twitter’s Fail Whale, a sign of system overload, has become such a well-recognized icon.”  Users update their feed so often that it can crash the system.  I wonder: how much activity is actually going on that people feel the need to update 20 times per day?  Foley himself admits to only posting two or three times a day, which is “low by Twitter standards.” 

When I finally broke down and joined Twitter, I wanted to set some personal boundaries for myself.  No boring posts about my routine tasks, share links to other articles as much as possible and keep the number of daily updates low (two or three per day).  You can see how many tweets you average per day with Tweetrush…if it’s 20 or more, you may need to reevaluate, and if it’s 50 or more…you may need help. 

This is the most helpful post I’ve found for those who are wondering if they are borderline TMI, or just interested in joining Twitter.  Blogger Ryan Slack, CEO of MyDealBook.com recommends that Twitter is useful for professionals to network, highlight their successes, make inquiries and let clients or coworkers in on a slice of their personal lives.  He does advise, however, that you should NOT Twitter trivial activities (“I’m eating a bran muffin) or anything inappropriate (“I just got the phone number of the hottest babe ever!”), and to keep your daily minimum down to once or twice a day.

So far, I have found Twitter to be a very useful and entertaining site to visit on a daily basis.  I love reading the updates of the people and organizations I follow, and I’ve stuck pretty close to my initial guidelines.  So follow me if you really want to.  And please send me an @reply if you think I’ve caught a case of TMI.