I just sat for about twenty minutes trying to figure out a twitter user name that wasn’t already taken (I’m really picky when it comes to these things) and I just realized that no, I will not acquest to this trend. That I’m going to take a stand against this current generations onslaught of, as one person put it, “verbal diarrhea.”
But some of you will say “Oh, but Sindy! Poor, poor, naive, ignorant, and disillusioned Sindy. Don’t you know? This is the future of communication! Stop being so old fashioned, you’re going to fall by the wayside if you continue in your foolish ways.” And I say to you–annoying voice that occasionally counter-argues my stances and forces me to spend what would normally be a ten minute grocery shopping trip turned into a hour just because I can’t decide if I’d rather buy chunky or smooth peanut butter–I say you, how can we justify the need clutter news and information with random half-formed sentences? We’re saying less with less, and it’s becoming a rather irritating fad.
People aren’t generating content, they’re just generating noise
That isn’t to say that there isn’t good things that come out of Twittering, or social networking as a whole, but the whole experience seems to be denigrating into shared experience of how much one person can one up another, instead of bridging the gap between cultures and societies.
But this whole note may carry the same weight as spitting in the rain, odds are Twitter will probably lose popularity in about five years, sooner if they go forward with their implementation of charging for their services. Then again, by that time, a whole new social networking site/service will probably pop up.
p.s.
I will admit, there have been some interesting tweets that have been informative &/or entertaining to read…so the whole thing can’t be discredited.
I agree with you (or your voice, I can’t really tell). Twittering is really silly. It’s not so much about content over noise, I think of it more in terms of utility. What on earth does twitter have that livejournal doesn’t? It’s the exact same thing, but with less functionality. That’s the only difference. Some would argue that by limiting the post size, twitter isn’t changing the technology but teaching us a new habit. Suddenly it’s acceptable to write really short blog posts. That’s fine. But even if they were to succeed in this effort, why do we still need twitter? Can we honestly say that a blogging service who’s primary feature is that it’s less functional than it’s competitors is really going to be a long-term trend?
Twitter is what you make of it. You follow people who tweet with substance, and you filter out the noise.
One of the pros of twitter is that it’s less intimidating than a blog; blogs are especially good for content, and I feel there’s a certain obligation to create substance. It requires more time and effort than tweeting. Twitter’s good for conversation starters. People link to articles and blogs with substance, alert you to what’s happening, what trends are popularly mentioned daily. Like with any tool, it’s a matter of how you use it.
I mean, why not get a twitter? I’m not saying it’s essential, but why knock it before you’ve even tried interacting with it? Just my two cents.