My readers here — hip, happening and with it as they are — hold Twitter in scorn as good for nothing better than telling what you just ordered at Starbucks (which they, inexplicably, regard as unimportant).
Not that I’m hurt or anything, but not one, not one of you has yet congratulated me for reaching the 10,000-Tweet mark. Because you think it’s a waste of time.
And you can certainly find mind-numbingly trivial junk there, right next to items of profound importance.
For instance, today I was very impressed by this Tweet from Nicholas Kristof linking to his column, which is something I needed to read:
There is no journalist in America who is better than Kristof at making me feel like, whatever I did today, it was ridiculously trivial compared to the way he spends every day.
Then again, I’ve never spent a day as frivolously as this:
Don’t bother with the link. It’s as stupid as it sounds.
Anyway, that was right next to the Kristof piece in my Twitter feed.
Now, some of you are saying, “See there! That’s what I’m talking about! Twitter is useless!”
But stop and think — every other news medium is dragged down by the same nonsense.
And with Twitter, if I get too many of those, I can just stop following the Daily Beast, further refining my feed to the Kristof end of the seriousness spectrum.
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While I may be missing something important on Twitter, Facebook, or any of the other sites, so far, my life has not been diminished in any way by avoiding them like the plague. The only one I have an account with is Facebook and I never post anything on it. My family in Ohio and Michigan use it frequently and a few close friends but if I want to catch up on anything important, I call and we talk. Sometimes we use Skype which can be a little more personal that a simple call and a helluva lot more intimate than Twittering, Tweeting, or Twerking. At times, I simply want to tell some of the people around me while I am out to “hash tag this” and I think you know what I mean.
One of the reasons I think most of us remain loyal to Bradwarthen.com is because it is more than just another blog, it is almost like family and the exchanges, although laced with some rancor at times, reminds me of a family that doesn’t always agree on everything. bud simply pisses me off at times but in turn, I am sure I he feels the same way about me too.
Anyway Brad, happy Tweeting and congratulations on your 10,000th Tweet. Party hats, streamers, and champagne all around!!! 🙂
Now THAT’s what I’m talking about!
Look, we read a blog! How 2000 of us! A lot of us use printed media, even. Tell your Twitter followers. Maybe they care….or maybe they are just skimming life….
Ah, ye who refuse to see the light!
I was once like you, brothers and sisters. Remember this column, in which I trashed the very idea of Twitter?
By the way, here’s a fun fact to know and tell: That column ran the day before I got canned by the newspaper. Really.
Once you know that, parts of that column will seem way ironic.
A sample of what I thought of Twitter then: “I felt like I was trying to get nutrition from a bowl of Lucky Charms mixed with Cracker Jack topped with Pop Rocks, stirred with a Slim Jim.”
But I hadn’t yet given it a proper chance…
Sellout
Twitter is a lot like most things in life. It’s whatever you make of it. I’m almost at 6k Tweets, so I’ve got a ways to go to get to the 10k mark.
Brad, you’ve to start putting 30s at the bottom. I read three comments before I realized you were done!
Ba-da-bing!
“Humanity is acquiring all the right technology for all the wrong reasons.”
― Richard Buckminster Fuller
“This is what’s wrong with the world. “Everything is explained now. We live in an age when you say casually to somebody ‘What’s the story on that?’ and they can run to the computer and tell you within five seconds. That’s fine, but sometimes I’d just as soon continue wondering. We have a deficit of wonder right now.
Tom Waits
Speaking of Twitter, I see that Graham’s Twitter feed is curiously silent about the latest discrediting of much of that 60 Minutes report on Benghazi.
To look at Twitter in the news this week.
I wish I’d had some money to invest in the IPO yesterday.
Of course, even if I’d had the money, I’m not even clear on whether I would have been able to buy at $26. Would that have been available to me?
I thought about buying one share, just so I could track and write about the value of that share going forward. But I didn’t know how to do it, and I didn’t want to bother my financial adviser with something so trivial.
As a serious investment, though, even if I’d had the money, I probably would have shied away, for the sound reasons set out in this good, cautionary piece that ran in the WSJ yesterday morning, before the stock started trading — “Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Invest in Twitter.”
I bought some TWTR in one of my kids’ accounts. I’ll sell it if it loses 25% but it’s worth the risk. I think Twitter has a better chance of success than Facebook.
Yes, Doug! You’re absolutely right about that.
That is to say, I think Twitter is a better product. I certainly prefer it. Facebook has done a better job of making money. But I just think FB is the AOL of this decade. It tries to be everything to everybody — to be people’s comprehensive interface with the Web — and that pushes me away.
What’s the point of my reading something through Facebook if I can’t quickly turn and email it to someone, or Tweet it (I mean from mobile platforms — I can do that easily enough from my laptop, not that FB is any help)? The insistence on “sharing” only through FB is extremely limiting, and off-putting.
Twitter is what it is, and that’s it. It’s pure. And it does what it does better than anyone. It’s like… I’m not going to search the Web from Facebook; Google does that better. When something needs to be emailed, I’ll use email. When a text is the way to go, I’ll do that. I prefer to use specific applications for specific tasks. Just as I prefer to drive a straight shift — I want to be in control of the transmission, not have the car shift when it feels like it. Driving a vehicle with manual shift is like riding a horse — you’re communicating with the vehicle…
Oh, never mind; I’m digressing again.
One of Twitter’s problems is that it’s hard to explain what it does to non-Tweeps in a way that they fully get it. You have to jump in, and give it a real chance. You have to experience it; the value can’t be explained to you…
I get what Twitter does but don’t like it. Too much chaff and not enough wheat. Too many links you have to click on to find out whether something is important or not. At least with Facebook, I can see more than 140 characters before deciding to follow a link. It’s also MUCH easier to hold discussions with friends than Twitter. Last night, I posted something about being at job fair at IT-ology looking to hire someone and advising ladies that it’s okay to shake a man’s hand firmly in a business setting. That set off a discussion among my friends that was easy to follow, allowed more than 140 characters, etc. It would have been a mess on Twitter.
Don’t get too enamored with Twitter though. They are going to have to adapt to make money just like Facebook did. Now that they have to report earnings, there will be a push to increase revenues.
Sounds like disco music. Either you get it or you don’t. If Facebook is the new AOL then Twitter is the new disco or reality TV. I suspect the novelty will wear off after a while and only the true devotees will stick with it. Facebook probably has a longer shelf life.
Done both.Got bored.The internet is the new boob tube,and mostly worthless entertainment.Too much information=no information.People are more out of touch with the world,and the people around them,than ever before.