>> "IRC, Campfire, and Confluence all require you to actively participate."
Please. Most of IRC is idlers. It's simple enough to setup an IRC client to be connected to channels that are useful to you.
Twitter is a single dimensional thing. You can only follow people and be followed. With chatrooms you can have several groups open at the same time. I'd say that makes it far more useful, especially in a corporate setting.
With Twitter you just don't have the granularity. You have to either say you're interested in Bob, or you're not interested in Bob. With IRC/chatrooms/etc, you say you're interested in Bob IF he's also talking about some project you've setup a channel for.
I'd say the only real reason for a corporation to use Twitter in their intranet is if they want to appear hip+cool and "get it".
It's simple for people who are used to "idling" on chat channels, periodically checking back to see whether anything interesting has happened. But not only is that an uncommon use case for most corporate computer users, it's annoying even for people who are used to it. To wit: much as I like Campfire, I have to be reminded or scheduled to get on it.
Most people don't spend their days lurking. Almost everyone on the Internet does spend their days available on IM.
You're not acknowledging the Twitter use case. Twitter isn't a chat system, even if people abuse it that way.
Please. Most of IRC is idlers. It's simple enough to setup an IRC client to be connected to channels that are useful to you.
Twitter is a single dimensional thing. You can only follow people and be followed. With chatrooms you can have several groups open at the same time. I'd say that makes it far more useful, especially in a corporate setting.
With Twitter you just don't have the granularity. You have to either say you're interested in Bob, or you're not interested in Bob. With IRC/chatrooms/etc, you say you're interested in Bob IF he's also talking about some project you've setup a channel for.
I'd say the only real reason for a corporation to use Twitter in their intranet is if they want to appear hip+cool and "get it".