In the past, I’ve never quite grokked the whole deal about Twitter. Now that I’m using it, I still don’t quite grok what other folks use it for, nor why it’s as popular as it is. It strikes me as a fun toy (that’s losing six figure quantities of money every month), but not really a useful tool most of the time.
However, I will say this: I’m a wordy bastard, and I appreciate that Twitter enforces a very strict limit on brevity. Learning to say what I want to say in 140 characters or less has been…interesting. I find that if I have an idea I want to Twitter about, I usually have to edit it multiple times to bring it down to 140 characters. It’s good writing discipline.
A recent example: “Between having a brain optimized for finding patterns (even if they don’t exist) and confirmation bias, it’s amazing we understand anything.” Number of characters: exactly 140. Number of edits to fit it in that space: 3. Brevity is hard, but sometimes squeezing out the extraeneous stuff makes the idea more accessible.
I for one will never understand why people choose Twitter over Plurk – similar character restriction, but easier to follow if a conversation is generated from it.
I for one will never understand why people choose Twitter over Plurk – similar character restriction, but easier to follow if a conversation is generated from it.
I still don’t get it either. Same thing, it’s kinda fun, but I’m failing to see the usefulness as a tool.
But I second the writing discipline thing. I’m using MPM and texting for the same reason – both help me condense my usual verbosity and is teaching me a lot that I can apply to my media interactions and teaching experiences.
I still don’t get it either. Same thing, it’s kinda fun, but I’m failing to see the usefulness as a tool.
But I second the writing discipline thing. I’m using MPM and texting for the same reason – both help me condense my usual verbosity and is teaching me a lot that I can apply to my media interactions and teaching experiences.
Brevity is useful, but there are occasions when it’s counter-indicated: think of how few people would read Dickens if he’d submitted A Tale of Two Cities via telegraph: “Good and bad times…” or The Gettysburg Address (“87 years ago the United States was created. We are now fighting over its continuation. God bless.”…
Twitter’s a tool. So is brevity. Use them when appropriate, and only then. Ogden Nash was marvelously, wittily brief, but he was no Shakespeare.
Brevity is useful, but there are occasions when it’s counter-indicated: think of how few people would read Dickens if he’d submitted A Tale of Two Cities via telegraph: “Good and bad times…” or The Gettysburg Address (“87 years ago the United States was created. We are now fighting over its continuation. God bless.”…
Twitter’s a tool. So is brevity. Use them when appropriate, and only then. Ogden Nash was marvelously, wittily brief, but he was no Shakespeare.
Twitter’s fun, and as you point out, it’s good discipline. I’m a Haijin myself, so it’s been fun to use it to record the occasional haiku which burbles to the top of my mind.
It’s a bit silly that businesses are using it for intercomms (Jabber would be much wiser) but people are silly. Whatcha gonna do.
Twitter’s fun, and as you point out, it’s good discipline. I’m a Haijin myself, so it’s been fun to use it to record the occasional haiku which burbles to the top of my mind.
It’s a bit silly that businesses are using it for intercomms (Jabber would be much wiser) but people are silly. Whatcha gonna do.
eeevil! 😉
now you need to grok facebook *hehehe*
eeevil! 😉
now you need to grok facebook *hehehe*
You’ve probably already seen this, but it does show the usefulness of twitter as a communication tool. http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/04/25/twitter.buck/
As for the cult of twits, yeah, I really don’t get it either.
You’ve probably already seen this, but it does show the usefulness of twitter as a communication tool. http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/04/25/twitter.buck/
As for the cult of twits, yeah, I really don’t get it either.
Used as a tool
I just finished up a project for my Financial Accounting class. I was able to complete it using Twitter to follow headlines in business publications (i.e. NY Times, The Economist, NPR, CNN, etc.). Using Twitter this way has given me a single place to scan for important articles that added to the depth of my project. I was skeptical at first, but it was so nice to get condensed versions of the stories all held in one spot, not to mention the ability to add them to a favorites list for weekly perusal. It was a tremendous help. One that I hope will contribute to an “A”. hehe
Re: Used as a tool
My google homepage gives me tons of headlines to scan. I get to pick the topics I’m interested in or the news source specifically, and on one convenient page I get all the news and comics and weather reports and movie times I can handle, so I don’t see the point in adding them to twitter, which just makes yet another webpage I have to remember to visit.
Used as a tool
I just finished up a project for my Financial Accounting class. I was able to complete it using Twitter to follow headlines in business publications (i.e. NY Times, The Economist, NPR, CNN, etc.). Using Twitter this way has given me a single place to scan for important articles that added to the depth of my project. I was skeptical at first, but it was so nice to get condensed versions of the stories all held in one spot, not to mention the ability to add them to a favorites list for weekly perusal. It was a tremendous help. One that I hope will contribute to an “A”. hehe
I have a love hate relationship w/ Twitter. I hate the self described “social media experts.” Why not just say your addicted to Twitter/Facebook and be done with it? I hate the constant shameless self promotion and the “how to get 10,000 random followers” blogs these folks churn out.
I love being able to read up on articles I wouldn’t find on my own. I like being able to tell Lance Armstrong my kids liked his book and ask him questions about it. I like being able to read the tweets of my favorite porn star too.
I have a love hate relationship w/ Twitter. I hate the self described “social media experts.” Why not just say your addicted to Twitter/Facebook and be done with it? I hate the constant shameless self promotion and the “how to get 10,000 random followers” blogs these folks churn out.
I love being able to read up on articles I wouldn’t find on my own. I like being able to tell Lance Armstrong my kids liked his book and ask him questions about it. I like being able to read the tweets of my favorite porn star too.
Do you use it via SMS/phone? That to me is what differentiates it for most of my friends
Do you use it via SMS/phone? That to me is what differentiates it for most of my friends
Considering how much I hate it when I see someone use ‘R U’ and the like, twitter can be really irritating because of its character limitation. That being said, it’s somewhat entertaining.
Considering how much I hate it when I see someone use ‘R U’ and the like, twitter can be really irritating because of its character limitation. That being said, it’s somewhat entertaining.
I don’t use Twitter, but I’ve become a little annoyed with LJ friends who have gone from posting meaningful stuff to just posting detached internal comments like “@suckabug: Nah, it’s really not worth it”, “@hugeass2008: What do you mean, lemons?” and so on.
Twitter is Twitter, so don’t just assume non-twits like to have LJ feeds of twittering!
Also, I stumbled upon this little apropos sweetie: http://www.dieselsweeties.com/archive/2208
I’m not a big fan of the daily LJ feeds of twittering either. I started reading LJ so I can keep up with my friends, but a long list of random short messages, some of which are in response to other people’s messages that I can’t read, don’t really tell me much.
When I want to read someone’s twitter, I go to twitter.
I don’t use Twitter, but I’ve become a little annoyed with LJ friends who have gone from posting meaningful stuff to just posting detached internal comments like “@suckabug: Nah, it’s really not worth it”, “@hugeass2008: What do you mean, lemons?” and so on.
Twitter is Twitter, so don’t just assume non-twits like to have LJ feeds of twittering!
Also, I stumbled upon this little apropos sweetie: http://www.dieselsweeties.com/archive/2208
I’m not a big fan of the daily LJ feeds of twittering either. I started reading LJ so I can keep up with my friends, but a long list of random short messages, some of which are in response to other people’s messages that I can’t read, don’t really tell me much.
When I want to read someone’s twitter, I go to twitter.
Re: Used as a tool
My google homepage gives me tons of headlines to scan. I get to pick the topics I’m interested in or the news source specifically, and on one convenient page I get all the news and comics and weather reports and movie times I can handle, so I don’t see the point in adding them to twitter, which just makes yet another webpage I have to remember to visit.
I love that you used the word “grok.”
I love that you used the word “grok.”