Tweet If You're Human

James Governor covers the topic of Twitter banality in You can keep your "Business Language": that's not meaningful conversation.

He reminds us that business meetings are often no more compelling than Twitter tweets on what was consumed for lunch. He also invokes the Cluetrain, reminding us that the marketplace is ultimately a conversation.

I have an additional observation regarding the value of these sometimes trivial conversations.

Humans have an amazing aptitude for extracting information from covert channels. Our daily conversations provide valuable information not normally acceptable via direct questioning. The trivial chatter of daily conversation is one of the basic ways we establish trust for the people around us.

To put it bluntly, any psychopath can mimic the ritualistic protocols of business. It seems to take a real human to sustain the gamut between relevant and trivial interactions over an extended period of time. We use conversation to confirm the humanity and credibility of the people around us.

... whether they come from Twitter or from the water cooler.

(oh, and I didn't have lunch today)