Twitter? Twaddle!
May 5, 2007A friend in Connecticut sent me a link to this article on Twitter today. I have to say I agree! I can ‘get’ websites, blogs, instant messaging (IM), but I just don’t ‘get’ Twitter. Like, what’s the point?
I particularly liked these sentences:
“There’s no blaming Generation Y for that. Blame their parents, those touchy-feely post boomers who piled on the praise and positive reinforcement, lest they bruise little Dylan or Madison’s budding self esteem. It’s Mom and Dad who awarded gold stars and iMacs every time their precious progeny engaged in the most mundane of child development.”
I’m going to let Twitter pass me by… which just confirms that I must be getting old and grumpy! *grin*
Update: December 2007: Well, it’s not just me! Pamela Slim, over at Escape from Cubicle Nation doesn’t see the point either. I’m in good company. I’m also not convinced about the value of the Facebook’s “What are you doing now?” status thing. I only joined Facebook to play Scrabble with a friend, and haven’t got in to *why* I should use the stuff that’s there to broadcast my every moment. Both also assume I’m online every waking moment, and I’m not.
Update: I joined Twitter in 2009 with both a personal and a professional account. The impetus was a tech writing conference I attended in 2009 where one of the presenters talked about the benefits for connecting with others in the industry. And I’ve found it very useful for that.
CyberText Newsletter 
I have to confess that I joined the hoards, primarily to chat with a friend who’s notoriously absent from IM, it lasted a week.
I logged on once, forgot to log back in, and by that stage thought, who can be bothered.
A phone call is simpler.
You’ve done the right thing. I hang my head, if only slightly, I was only a victim for a short time before retaining my sanity.
I also find Twitter’s popularity baffling. However, there is one use that may be worthwhile. Suppose you’re at a conference and want to know when and where everyone is getting together. With Twitter, you could send a msg like, “hey, I’m at such and such restaurant — come join me.”
Hi Tom
Your suggestion implies a couple of things:
1. You have your laptop or all-in-one-does-everything-always-connected cell phone with you in the restaurant.
2. If you have your laptop, it implies that the restaurant has wireless connectivity and so do you. And that you have your laptop out of its bag and open on the table, and booted up…
Again, I say, why bother?
Some of us *choose* to have cell phones that DON’T connect to the internet, and some of us choose NOT to take their laptop with them wherever they go, including restaurants in conference venues. So how would Twitter work with them? Why not just send an SMS or make a cell phone call? (I’m just being Devil’s Advocate here – I’m sure some people find Twitter useful… I’m just not one of them who ‘gets it’, just like I never ‘got’ the internet-in-your-fridge thing.)
I’d say Twitter is more narcissistic than anything — particularly given the way most people are using it.
I don’t need to know that a friend is brushing her teeth now and that in a couple of minutes she’ll be putting on her lipstick and thinks she’ll use Hazelnut today…or maybe Sugared Almond…or maybe Hazelnut after all and then…
I have suspicions that some of the people who are on Twitter are the ones cluttering up serious-topic forums over on Yahoo! Answers with a lot of nonsense. Or maybe those people on Yahoo! Answers need to be told to go clutter up Twitter instead.
The more pertinent question may be…
Doesn’t anyone work anymore?
I’m not sure this makes things any clearer about the usefulness of Twitter, but here’s someone else’s take:
http://www.adaptivepath.com/blog/2007/05/21/the-continuum-of-online-communication/
Sorry, hit submit comment before I was done.
http://www.adaptivepath.com/blog/2007/03/19/why-is-honesty-such-a-lonely-word/
In the wake of Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, maybe iit’s time for you to do a follow-up post!