I’m going to weigh in on the Twitter debate.
I have been totally Twit adverse, as I really do feel that Twitter is a legal form of stalking but I joined last week and found myself twit addicted for the first few days. But today I saw what Leah from MOB has in her fridge and thought is this really what the world has come to?
My initial hesitation to join Twitter was because I felt like it was highly self indulgent, which I still do - you are communicating the most mundane parts of your day to the world with the expectation that they give a shit. Whilst you read about the interesting days of other people and celebrities and feel some kind of connection to them. It is a big cry for attention and social validation is it not?
She says as she writes a blog post.
Like many forms of modern media, Twitter is a great way to let people know how you are feeling and what is going on in your life instantaneously, cheaply and without discussion, which is essentially a very selfish way to communicate? Talking with no real opportunity to talk back? Which essentially what blogging is? Which I am doing now? Yet for some reason with a blog, which is even more public than Twitter I don’t feel the same hesitation. Why?
Twitter raises some real issues for me, like why do I get so much satisfaction in knowing where Mark Ronson and Daniel Merriweather are at any given time and what they are up to? If I went up to either of them and said we are friends on Twitter surely they would smile politely and then run as fast as possible in the opposite direction, they are not my real friends nor have I ever met either of them, I am pretty much categorically stalking them but in a way they are encouraging it by posting?
Someone must have something intelligent to say about this.
Twitter is dangerous because it is so easily accessible, so when I was deathly hungover on Sunday tweeting about looking like I’d been up all night smoking crack, anyone from my work could have seen that and I could have gotten into trouble (had I not already been made redundant). And yes you can block people and whatnot but I’d have to realise who they are first. It’s a scary thought when you put that information to air on the internet forever.
But yet I continue to Tweet and read the tweeting of others but I have been thinking about these issues a lot over the past few days. And I am genuinely interested to hear about other people’s thoughts on Twitter, or any other of these mediums for that matter, because I think its a really interesting topic and I am a nerd.
8 Comments
You’re right, it is self indulgent; but I enjoy it because I like knowing what my friends and my brother are doing at any given time. It’s like sms’ing en masse.
And as far as privacy is concerned, I have my account locked so that only approved peoples know what I’m saying.
But the best thing about it is that it gives me chuckles throughout the day. And that ain’t no bad thang.
whats twitter?
I think you’ve got it a bit twisted – Twitter isn’t a one-way broadcast medium.
For sure there’s a tonne of inane stuff posted (and I’m definitely guilty of that too), but all these tools work best when viewed as a conversation. That’s pretty much the point of them.
And the thing with Twitter is that it only starts to make sense when you’re connected to a solid network of people you actually know and can interact with. That’s where the value is.
Argh! But I hate the twit conversations – I prefer the mindless mundane I just brushed my hair updates.
I find it super difficult to follow and/or have @conversations, I feel like it pollutes the reading of other people’s hair brushing stories because then I have to go find the other person’s post they replied to, to know what they are talking about.
Its like a really confusing game of word ping pong. I guess when it comes to conversation or organising an outing I would rather pick up the phone?
Maybe I am taking Twitter too literally or it may not be made for me?
it’s fun, take it for what it is. Some days I’m on it heaps. Other days not at all. I’m not a psycho about it but I find it great for random bits of info “what’s on tonight?” kinda shit. Everyone hates it when they’re first on it. I agree 100% with Will.
I think Twitter just needs to be taken lightly.
It took me about 6 months to get into it and admit to being a bit of a twitter hater in the beginning. I’d check back every so often and was quite bored until I added Shaq and he had me in stitches. To start with I just looked at it as a facebook update without the shame of pissing people off by updating so often (but now the accounts are linked so people just have to suffer HA!) and I’m in agreement with Will, the network really helps otherwise it’s a bit zzzzzzz.
I get incredibly annoyed at TV/Media/People that write letters to MX that shout how they don’t get it and it’s for people who are into themselves so much that they think everyone needs to know what they’re doing. You know, like Richard Wilkins the other day saying he didn’t get it and you can’t rely on the information on there whilst announcing Jeff Goldblum’s death. I reckon if those people stopped thinking about it and ignored it, it wouldn’t worry them so much. Do they think they’re missing out on something or what? Why do they get so angry about it.
What is also annoying is PR accounts for celebs – bahhhh! What’s the point of that? I’m a bit off the celeb part though, regular people have been a bit more exciting. Though it is interesting to get an insight into their real lives.
I think it’s kinda fun. I’m sure my updates go into empty space but f it. It’s a great time waster when you’re bored and @banter can be fun times. I’ve gotten a little insight into people I don’t even know from far away which blows my mind a little bit (ohhh showing my old age hahaha!)
I find the news side of it completely fascinating.
Anything that you put on the internet is free game, so I never update or post stuff I don’t want people to hear.
Anyway, that’s my 20 cents haha!
Long time reader, first time commenter. And can’t believe that my first comment is about Twitter.
I live in San Francisco and work for a start up that’s connected to Silicon Valley. First day on the job they ask me, “Are you on Twitter? If not, you should be”. It was early 2008, Twitter was pre Ashton and Diddy and the only people on were early tech adopters, majority in SF and coming straight from Melbourne, I think my first post was about wanting coffee.
Starting off, the majority of my posts were food related, and knowing no one on Twitter, I was basically talking to my co workers. However as time went on, Twitter became more relevant. I was connecting to people in my industry, people were retweeting what I had to say, and its now became a part of my job to tweet from my company’s Twitter account.
I would say that I’m on my company’s Twitter account at least 3 hrs a day. From this, we have over 1600 followers who follow my tweets alerting them of new blog posts, asking them for feedback on our product, and retweeting interesting news thats relevant to my industry. From Twitter, I have had many companies that I would never have access to their emails that contact me, our blog gets the most traffic from Twitter, business deals have been made and I learn new things constantly from my followers.
Work wise, Twitter is an incredible and necessary tool that provides companies with traffic, engages with their customers in a way we haven’t been able to before and its great leverage for your brand. I think Australia has been slow to adapt to Twitter and people are still hesitant, but in SF, my local coffee shop has its own Twitter account.
I find myself using my own personal Twitter account less and less because of my work one, and agree that even as an early adopter, sometimes I just tweet boring shit. Once you get into that, its a great social media tool and I think people should view it as that.
There’s talk of a Twitter movie that is all the news in Silicon Valley. Now that should be up for Twebate.
I love Twitter. When I first joined, I didn’t really interact with people, but now I’m following peeps and replying and stuff, it’s like my favourite thing ever. I don’t really follow any celebrities, except a few comedians and comedy writers, it’s mainly just regular people who may not have anything mega-exciting to say, but I just really like the way they say stuff within only 140 characters. This is really PUKESOME, but as a writer, I really enjoy writing updates too within that character limit.
I do Twitter through my iPhone 99% of the time so it just feels like a fun little noticeboard to check during the day.
Facebook is so full of shit, loads of people adding pictures and being friends with people just to look cool. Twitter forces you to focus on what people say/think rather than pictures of them acting like a fucking cocksucker at some ‘cool’ party.
BTW though, I delete people instantly from my Twitter feed if they get on my nerves.
I hope you enjoyed my story.