Twitter: I don't get it.

[mckitterick]

Do you? If so, what am I not getting? Mostly, I find "tweets" irritating and lacking in anything I'd want to read. Despite the cute name.

Chris

Comments

[astein142.livejournal.com]

I don't get it either. I've been reading tweets from some of my friends via LJ or Facebook summaries, and it's mostly "fed the dogs" and "it's snowing" kinda things. I see no reason to make it that easy for my cyberstalkers to keep tabs on me...

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Also, um, why post that stuff? Besides feeding hungry stalkers, I mean.

Are people texting these in from their phones? If so, they're paying 10 cents per tweet? Um, wow.

[bondo-ba.livejournal.com]

I am with you here. The only twitters I find worth reading are those in which editors say "been working on submissions". The rest are just uninteresting noise IMO.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

True, I've seen a few that were interesting, mostly from people who had something to say via Twitter. But most of 'em? Nah.

[jaylake.livejournal.com]

Do you have the 'chat' gene? Twitter is basically a collective extension of the chat/IM/SMS experience. Which is either interesting to you or not, depending on taste.

[brisingamen.livejournal.com]

This perhaps explains why I don't get it. I have a cell phone, I have IM facilities, and now Twitter, but I have no regular contact with anyone via text or IM (in fact I have disabled IM as no one ever used it and it was just one more thing to start up each day).

I'd probably retire my Facebook account but it does keep me in touch with three or four people who seem to be happier using it than any other means of communication. (Other than that, apart from the LJ crowd and various academic contacts, I think my Facebook mostly serves to say 'yes, am still alive after all these years. Isn't that amazing!' to a number of people who had otherwise dropped off my radar, and had remained fallen off for a reason!)

[brisingamen.livejournal.com]

I don't get it either. I set the whole thing up last week, just to see what it might do (and indeed for the intellectual challenge of solving it), but other than producing blog-haiku, which was fun but limited, I cannot see the point.

I suspect it works better if one has a socially active on-the-move kind of life and needs to keep lots of people in touch with what one is doing in order to make meeting up easier. As I don't have that kind of life, its usefulness to me is a moot point indeed. (And why one would want to then send it all to an LJ entry, I'm not sure, other than for filing purposes, but I know mileage varies on these issues.I love technology but I feel the same way about it as I do about kitchen implements. It/they need to earn their keep, and Twitter doesn't.)

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

I've been considering setting it up just to test it, but I think I know what I'd do: ignore it.

If I feel the need to share frequently, I don't feel guilty if I make several LJ posts in a day. Is that bad?

[kijjohnson.livejournal.com]

Yeah, me neither. Even if people care what I ate for breakfast (a cherry white-chocolate scone and drip coffee), it's not worth my time to tell them. And it looks like narcissism, which is something even blogs tremble at the edge of; but at least a blog has content. If you do it right.

Unless you're Confucius, you're not going to have anything intelligent to say in 140 characters.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

I hear ya!

PS: Scone sounds yummy. (Mine: "Hint of Lime" Tostitos with melted provolone cheese.)

[chernobylred.livejournal.com]

So. Annoying. I hate it. It's another generational thing--with the young hip set so in need of being noticed all the time. roya_spirit and I have noticed this in the Bellydance world, too. Young dancers putting clips of their (early, painful) rehearsals, not asking for critique or tips, but just saying "Hey! Look at me!" It's the same mentality that demands you call your friends as soon as you get out of class, to let them know, that you just got out of class.

I have no patience for it. Surprise.

[normalcyispasse.livejournal.com]

It boils down to a lack of substance. Why waste bandwidth -- cyber or neural -- on unsubstantial things? Does it matter, and does anyone care? The answer to both is, of course, no.

[normalcyispasse.livejournal.com]

Twitter really bugs the piss out of me. I've removed a few people from my flist simply because their LJ posts became exclusive compendiums of annoying "tweets."

[chernobylred.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm waiting for someone on my f-list to try that shit. I hope hope hope that the few people whom I've kept on my read list are smarter than that...

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on this one...

[piezocuttlefish.livejournal.com]

I totally get Twitter, even though I don't use it. Yet.

My step-family and close friends use Twitter, getting updates on their Blackberries. The community to which they've subscribed is small and pertinent to their lives, so it's not like receiving facebook updates. Really, do I care what this person I met at band camp in 1993 is doing this week? Probably not. However, with people who are close, receiving a twitter is a bit of unexpected emotional captial. It's like looking over to see the photograph you keep of the person on your desk during the day, only it's an actual message from the person. With a small group, Twitter can be used to create solidarity across a city, even in a public place. Twittering during Thanksgiving dinner provided my brothers a number of good laughs by being a humourous metaconversation. Its push nature makes it more rewarding than any sort of online forum. Then again, if you have any website, like LJ or OKcupid, automatically update you when someone sends you a message, you're already experiencing some of the joy of Twitter.

[chernobylred.livejournal.com]

Twittering during Thanksgiving dinner provided my brothers a number of good laughs by being a humourous metaconversation.

I can see how this would be a wonderful way to use the format for people who couldn't attend a family function. Good idea!

[queza7.livejournal.com]

I don't like the platform, but I'm on it just to know how it works. I've started up a Naka-Kon Twitter because lots of people have been asking for it, but I'm mostly going to ignore it once I get it set up (with scheduled tweets that automatically post, of course).

Really, I don't see the point.

[corwynofamber.livejournal.com]

From what I can tell, twitter is a way to 'share' your stream consciousness. Either you like it or you don't. Overall, it seems to be the younger more connection immersed generation that like it.

I have seen effective (for varying degrees of effective) uses for it when people are posting about an event.
Using it in this manner it is the 'sound bite' of blogging.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I do see the coolness of it for reporting.

[selinker.livejournal.com]

My dad says: "If you know everything everyone you know has done all day, what do you talk about when you see them?"

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

I hear ya. On the other hand, well-thought-out (or sorta so) blog posts can provide material for discussion.

[adammaker.livejournal.com]

Twitter as currently used is Intensely Annoying Bullshit.
-
I swear it makes for a Noise to Signal Ratio that turns me right off.
-
LJs where there is nothing but Twitter-drips get booted out of my reading view.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

This is why I'm immediately turned off when I see an LJ full of tweets, because I've come to expect them to be high noise:signal.

I find it odd that people who make otherwise interesting blog posts feel the need to tweet.

[rougewench.livejournal.com]

I don't get it. But then I don't get the whole texting thing...at all. It's even more annoying to me than people talking on their cell phones.


D.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

...but at least you can ignore people's tweets and texts!

[margaretq.livejournal.com]

I admit to opening my twitter account once in a blue moon and realizing most of the time - I don't get it or that it was only relevant in the moment. I despise IM'ing - just an annoyance at work.

HOWEVER - for certain purposes it is really handy. I just haven't sat down to see if I can set up filters in such a way to make it efficient.
In media- everyone twitter links to wikis or shared dats/stories as we work. Its liek texting - but with a lik on your pc to what you really need.

And amongst political junkies/blogers - mostly its links.

On a personal side - I don't have a lot of friends on twitter that post what they had for lunch. My friends MIGHT twitter - "Finished exams" when they get through their bar exams or something milestone-y. Or "passed exams! woot! I'm official now." Usually its genuinely something I care about them sharing.

For planning purposes - it can be really convenient for everyone to twitter completed event planning stages. But, in reality - a work-site wiki or texting/emailing accomplishes the same.

Again - in reality - its one more thing. And I don't really get it.

[geekmom.livejournal.com]

It's great for live blogging events, but I don't like it as a general stream. Who has time to do all that texting? But really, it's just a way for people to connect.

[heidi2524.livejournal.com]

Mars Rover on Twitter - best use I've seen of that online application:
http://twitter.com/MarsPhoenix

It's currently talking about a tour. I enjoyed the earlier posts during its mission "Just finished hunkering down for a big dust storm (the size of W. Va.) to pass over. Weathered it well & I'm back to work 3:19 PM Oct 14th, 2008 from web"

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Took a look at that, and it appears to be almost all real content - like teeny blog posts. Good stuff!

[amjhawk.livejournal.com]

I think of it as "Facebook Status Update on Steroids" - and yeah, not my bag, but I don't mind. I mean, rather than having an LJ entry that says,

"I went shopping at blablabla, and then I came home to cute Mr. Poodles and fed him, only to be arrested for jaywalking by the policemen lying in wait with video evidence of my pedestrian transgression!"

now it's just

- Shopping.
- Feeding the dog.
- In jail. Post bail?

Which is informative (if you care), or easily skipped over (if you don't).

Also, some people have large text phone plans, where they have unlimited texts for a fixed price.

Obama even used Twitter to keep in touch with his stalkers during the campaign.

So, in summation, yeah - who cares? Well, for those people that do, good for them.

[ericreynolds.livejournal.com]

I've been experimenting twitter for several weeks, but I'm sure I'm not using it often enough to make it worthwhile. Mainly I got it because you can use it to send a quick comment or question to NPR's Talk of the Nation - Science Friday during the show.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

That's a good reason to use it. I've just signed up, myself, to see what's the big deal. So far: Not much.

[arian1.livejournal.com]

Twitter is the ultimate in ADD narcissism. At times I find it well, rude. You want people to pay attention to what you are saying but don't have more than five seconds to compose a proper thought. I know we all do drive-by posting on LJ from time to time, but at least you have to take a moment to compose and post it.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

A-yep, that's pretty much my feeling.

[siro-gravity.livejournal.com]

jesus.
i don't even know what a twitter IS.

[corwynofamber.livejournal.com]

Consider yourself lucky :)

[auroraceleste.livejournal.com]

Got a twitter to keep up with the Naka-Kon feed. I've used it a bit in the last few days, but I'm starting to get the feeling that it'll go the way of LJ: lots of reading about friends, not a lot of posting myself. I like keeping up with people, but not so much on updating about myself.

[astein142.livejournal.com]

78+ comments thus far. You've clearly hit a collective nerve...

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

So it seems!

Twitter

[madmatmax.livejournal.com]

There for a while I just kept seeing articles about how twitter could be used by the terrorists

Re: Twitter

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

You're right! Twitter gives the ter'rists more power!

Oh my gosh, now that I think of it, so do paper and pencils. We need to ban paper and pencils now before it's too late!