It’s interesting how quickly technology changes today.
I’ve talked about how it’s odd to think that there are
teenagers today who’ve never bought an actual music
CD, all of their music as been downloaded (legally or
otherwise) from online. There are kids today who’ve
never experienced dial-up, they’ve always had DSL or
broadband.
The internet isn’t even that old, as far as being used
worldwide, yet last year when my modem broke for a
couple of days, I was lost without it.
I’m still behind, tech-wise, in some ways. I’ve missed the
texting craze. My cell-phone (only the 2nd one I’ve ever
owned), which I’ve had for maybe 5 years, is rather
old-fashioned. I remember when I bought it I was impressed
with how much smaller it was than my first one. I can fold it
& stick it in my back pocket. But it doesn’t take pictures, or
record videos, or have internet access like so many others
do these days. I’ve never felt the need for it, since I only
have the phone for emergencies. In case my car breaks
down, and I need to call Triple A, or something like that.
So I hardly ever even have it turned on.
Last Jan. an online friend wrote in one of my blogs that
she’d sent me a text message for New Years, which was
a few days earlier, so I turned on my phone & saw it,
& it turned out that there was another text message
from a real-life friend. I had no idea that I could even
receive texts on my phone, nor do I know how to reply
to them. And it’s probably because of this lack of
text-access that I’ve missed the lastest Next Big Thing
of the moment: TWITTER.
In the past couple of weeks I seem to be reading an awful
lot about it on various websites, and I was just listening
to a podcast a few days ago where they were talking about
it. I’ve also gotten a couple of requests recently, from
friends who are on it.
I don’t get it. At all. I can’t see the point. Now, I am not
going to trash it, or say it’s some big waste of time, or
anything like that. Simply because that’s what I used to
say about Myspace years ago. I thought it was stupid,
and mocked those who were on it, especially those with
huge numbers of “friends.” And then I finally signed up
and quickly became addicted to it. Then a year or so ago
I signed up to Facebook and that became my new addiction.
And I’ve occasionally argued with “civilians” who like to claim
that Myspace & Facebook are a waste of time. So I could
be wrong about this, too.
But, really, what’s the point of Twitter? Let’s say I have
a Blackberry or iPhone. I’m supposed to be signed in to Twitter
constantly so I can read a bunch of “status updates” all day
long? On the podcast they were talking about how it’s great
because you can see people’s thoughts “in real time.”
Yeah, and?
Why do I need to know what you are doing, or what’s on
your mind, RIGHT NOW? Nor does anybody need to know
what I’m doing, or what’s on my mind, RIGHT NOW. My life
is not that interesting. My random thoughts are not that
interesting. And, I’m willing to bet, neither are any of yours.
I mean, Mon-Fri I get up in the morning and spend most
of my day at work. My random thoughts are usually
something like:
“I want pizza.”
“My feet hurt”
“Is it break time, yet?”
“I wish I could have a threesome with Halle Berry & Angelina Jolie.”
“What was the name of that song I heard this morning?”
“Is it break time, yet?”
Etc.
Not exactly Divine Revelations that I must share
with the world immediately.
I saw a notice on this comic-book news website that
I read, telling folks to sign up to their Twitter page. It
said something like “Sign up to get breaking news as
it happens!” And I’m thinking, why does anyone need
news about comic-books, RIGHT NOW? What’s the
rush? I can wait until I get home to check out the
new 5-page preview of the June issue of Wonder
Woman, I don’t need an alert @ 3:27pm telling me
that it’s just been posted.
Again, I won’t say it’s bad, or even that I’ll never sign
up, because of my previous opinions on social networking.
Who knows? By this time next year, I could be a
non-stop twittering maniac. But right now I honestly
can’t conceive of having any interest in it.
iBLOGalot 
Twitter is dumb and demonstrates how Web 2.0 entrepreneurs are all seeking to create the BIGGEST, BESTEST, COOLEST, GEEKIEST, SWEETEST idea ever. No one seems to actually focus on solving real needs but creating services that allow us to be less connected from each other.
Twitter makes me no more connected to my friends. If I wanted to be connected to them, I’d text them individually.
The uber geeks will not be able to reproduce and will therefore be unable to pass on the genetic mutation that allowed them to find value in Twitter in the first place to anyone thereby leading to a slow and painful death for Twitter and the TWITs that use them.
For those of you with poor vocabulary skills and literary knowledge, you may want to explore a Roald Dahl book known as The Twits to really learn what I just called you.
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Ouch. Well, I wouldn’t go that far. Like I said, I can’t make definitive statements, either. Because I’m the guy that once declared that Myspace is for “losers.”
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First of all, “Twitter” is a really, really lame name.
Web world says this will change humanity, not by it’s social function, but by its publishing function. I’m trying to make it useful but really, not one wants to sign up to it. It’s probably the lame name.
Oh, and the fact that you can only have one account, unless you use a different email. Even then, you can only use your phone number once. So there’s not useful way to organize what “tweets” (again, lame) you want to send and receive. Either everyone reads it, or no one does.
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I recently created a Twitter account myself and my immediate impression is that this hyper-connectivity the social sites are driving too has gone too far. As a person, an individual, I don’t really want all my friends to know what I’m doing every moment of every day – and I don’t expect the thinking ones to care very much. So what I’ve found is that I really don’t have anything to Twitter about. I believe the shine will wear off in the near future.
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Yeah, I wouldn’t want most folks to REALLY know what I’m thinking about @ any random moment of the day. So if I were on Twitter, I think I’d mostly be just trying to think of something “cool” to post, instead of giving random thoughts, which seems like too much unnecessary work for something so trivial.
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I have to agree. I joined to find out what the fuss is all about, but find it nothing more than a distraction. I dont have time in my life to inform all of my “friends” about what is new. Email is all I need for small messages – logging in to either a website or IM to do the same doesn’t fly with me. The majority of them are acquantances online who *think* they know me. And that is definitely not useful in any shape or form. What it does give though is an opportunity for bloggers who aren’t in the mood for a full post to spout crap. *Shrug*. I’m sure for the dedicated users its great, but only because its an intrusive snapshot into someones life – something im not prepared to share.
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I used to think that Twitter was a waste of time, but I signed up for an account anyway, just to attempt to “get it”.
If used for the intent that Twitter claims, “What are you doing?”, then, yes, I think it’s a little too much. However, there is power in networking, so using it to broadcast major events, such as “I’m looking for a new job”, to all the people in your Twitter network may yield surprising results.
I’ve also found that very judicious use is non intrusive, and when someone I’m following posts something, I don’t feel like I have to respond immediately, or even ever. Maybe I’ve been fortunate that the folks I’m following aren’t putting useless junk in their posts. Some things like book recommendations in my field are useful to me.
At first glance, it does look like a waste of time. However, I have found some value in using the service. I don’t feel like I have to respond to any of the posts, nor do I expect anyone to respond to mine. I might post once every day or two, and I’ve made it a policy not to be obsessed with it (unlike email, but that will require an intervention, I’m afraid).
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I understand why people would hate Twitter and why some folks like it. Here is a link to why I like Twitter and how I use it to make richer connections with the people in my life. Take a look if you are interested in a positive spin on the Twitter phenomenon:
http://www.leadingagile.com/2008/10/why-twitter.html
Personally, I hope all this social networking sticks around for a while.
Mike
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Well, like I said, I can’t knock it. If some folks find it truly useful, or even just fun, then that’s good for them.
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Yeah, I don’t get the Twitter thing at all. I don’t really see how it’s any different from Facebook status updates, and I only write those if I’ve got something vaguely interesting to say – I’m not a big one for ‘Jacq is on the train and heading to work’-style updates. And Facebook has the added benefits of sharing photos and tracking down old friends. Twitter seems a bit random to me.
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After reading through this article, I feel that I really need more information on the topic. Can you share some more resources ?
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Not sure what you’d be looking for, Ex Back. But a quick google-search should bring up tons of links about Twitter. It’s all over the place now. Last I heard, they’re trying to make a TV REALITY SHOW about it.
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I haven’t yet decided if I need to sign up to this or not yet. I’m already busy enough with Myspace and Facebook.
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The style of writing is very familiar . Have you written guest posts for other bloggers?
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No, I haven’t Vince. But, in addition to WordPress & Blogspot, I’ve also been blogging on Myspace for several years, and I have been a poster on multiple message boards since 2000. A google-search of my name, will bring up multiple posts. So perhaps you’ve seen me some other site?
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Hi, Super post, Need to mark it on Digg
Elcoj
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Thanks Elcoj! Glad you liked it!
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“Reality Show” is an oxymoron.
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True dat.
PS Love the name & avatar!
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I admire the valuable information you offer in your articles.Great post, You make good points in a concise and pertinent fashion, This is a really good read for me, many thanks to the author
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Thanks!
As an update: since I originally posted this blog, I did sign up to Twitter the following June, and ended up following about 10 people. I never “tweeted” myself, only ever responded to other people’s tweets. After about 2 months I gave up and deleted the account. I just really did not see any point to it.
When I started up this new blog site, I went ahead and signed up to Twitter again, just because I thought it would kinda funny to have a Twitter link on my blog, even though I never use it. http://twitter.com/jrlemar
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[…] couple of years ago I wrote a blog post about Twitter, which I just really heard about @ the time. I said that I didn’t understand what was the […]
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