Does it make you all atwitter?
I am getting old. Over the years I have put up various protests against some new technology or other only to succumb to it later and become a big fan. Answering machines. Cell phones. Text messaging. Blogging. Even social networking (although most of my concentration there goes to LinkedIn, which is more for professional networking). If we watched TV in our house, I am sure I would even love Tivo.
But I don't get Twitter. Every time I look at it, which is periodically because some blogger or other that I read gushes over it and says "If you're not there, you're square!", I dutifully return to the site, look through it again, and then just go "Wha...?" I mean, I get it - I understand what it does and how. I just don't understand the why. What purpose does it fulfill that can't already be served by text messaging itself or even good old fashioned email, which is available on most phones now? Are the minutiae of your life so important that you feel like posting your every movement (bowel or otherwise) to the world wide web?
Any twitterers (twittasians? twitterps? twitti? twits?) reading this care to try and enlighten me? Besides the ego thrill of letting the entire planet know that you're going to the store now what practical purpose does it serve?
Just curious.
13 comments:
I guess I'm with you on this one. I mean, I like new technology and gadgets, etc., but for me, Twitter is just one more thing to have to learn...and for what purpose.
So...at least you're not alone.
Jeff,
Glad to know I am not alone, a la Twitter. Especially 'cause you're WAY younger than me, by your photo.
And BTW, I worked off and on at a project in Tulsa back in '04 or so. It's about five hours from here. My wife and I liked the city, and even went to a baseball game (Go Drillers! :-). Plus, I made great friends with some of the management and staff at the Senor Tequilas on 51st. PLUS, I lived through a tornado season there - one of the coolest experiences I've had (the Chinook winds I grew up with in Boulder ain't NUTHIN' like the weather y'all get in Green Country :o). I actually have a dream of spending at least one vacation some time in the future tornado chasing.
All that to say I am happy someone from Tulsa (well, Broken Arrow - just WHY did you guys rename all your streets?) is reading my blog.
yeah, twitter, that's one of the ones I just can't seem to stay with. Myspace, Facebook, LinkedIn, those are great. I did last.fm for a while and gather.com, and stumbleupon for quite a while. The other day, I signed up for blog365 but I'm not sure I get that one either. :D
Tina,
Blog365 is easy - just write, every day. On purpose. Of course, for blabber-er-bloggermouths like me, that's easy.
Oh, and you forgot GoodReads, the only other "social networking" site I am a part of (although I haven't updated in a while).
Jim,
Ah, Broken Arrow. Our nearest main road is known as N. 23rd St. It's also known as 193rd E. Ave. It's also nicknamed "County Line Road."
You remember the U2 hit, "Where the Streets Have Three Names?" That's about us. :) Don't ask me why. It makes about as much sense as Twitter does.
That does it. I'm blogrolling you.
Jeff,
Ditto. Of course, I blogroll about everyone that stays in my reader for more than a week (but that's another post :o).
Jim
jim- me either. i haven't even taken time to understand the ins and out, never mind the whys. 'course i have officially flunked out of facebook. i never could see the point. there wasn't anything meaningful happening there and i didn't want to link to my blog from there, so my face just sits over there not doing anything...
Cindy,
Glenn asked me, so I finally set up a Facebook account just to make sure I could accept his invitation ('cause he's Glenn and I like him :o) and since then I've had one (1) other invite, which I've also accepted. Compare that with a LinkedIn network of 111.
But whatever - it's all connections. Six degrees of separation and all that. I just find my blog a better way of gathering those than most social networking sites. But that's because blog readers tend to have more attention span, what? :-P
I used to activate the browser feature that would turn off images. Now images are essential to browsing, so it's a good thing we have high speed. But the thing is, people eventually figured out what to do with images.
I used to dislike blogs. Now I are one. Eventually people found useful and interesting things to do with blogs. I've even gotten used to "latest post on top," although I'm very happy that comments usually go in chron order.
And with twitter. Most of us don't quite know what to do with it. It could eventually become as interesting and useful as blogging.
I just read a list of things to help improve your blog. One of the suggestions is to read, both blogs and just anything at all, for ideas, to see what other bloggers/readers like, etc. Another suggestion is to twitter (tweet?) when you have something too short for a post.
That made me think, why not twitter on your blog? Sure enough, you can do that. Sort of like the "share others' posts" widget that blogger already provides, except it's you sharing your quick thoughts as twitter thingies (not necessarily about the oatmeal burrito you had this morning).
Aaron,
I can also email to my blog (done that from my phone, works great) and can SMS to it as well if I cared to set that up - so again, I just don't see what Twitter has to offer me as an intermediary.
I know I am just being curmudgeonly. I can tell that some people think they just can't live without it now, and most of them seem to be (much) younger than me. So as with texting, at some point perhaps a light bulb will go on over my head about it all - but I doubt it.
i heard on NPR once about a young man who twittered that he was about to kill himself and somehow a network of people who had never met him intervened and saved him- which was, of course, what he hoped.
(I'm still not gonna do it, I just thought I'd throw that in.)
do the twitter thing, that is. no current suicidal thoughts!
Cindy,
Good to know! :-)
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