Some folks are big on Twitter. It’s the latest free social-networking service that lets people advertise up-to-the-second accounts of their thoughts, emotions and activities. Each entry is limited to 140 characters, which usually results in rapid fire tedium. You’ve probably seen those little Twitter widgets on your favorite blog announcing that said author is eating pasta, shopping for nylons, feeling bored, or needs a zit popped. The minutiae is never ending.
Is it just me, or is this Twitter craze kinda… smarmy? Sure, there are a lot of people I’d like to meet. But I could care less about the day-to-day details of their lives. Did they sleep well? Did they make it to work on time? What did they have for lunch? Was their cubicle too hot? Maybe twenty-somethings find this trivial, hi-speed chatter invigorating. Me? I think it’s booorrring!
Besides, isn’t it pretty narcissistic to think anyone cares?
Other than some type of business-related function, I just don’t see the purpose. Networking is fine. Social interaction is cool. But this digital stream-of-consciousness is beyond irrelevant. Thus, I shall remain Twitterless.
(But, just in case you’re interested, it’s 8:23 P.M. and I’m writing this in my jammies!)
This twenty-something is in the midst of giving Twitter a week-long trial period. I honestly haven’t seen the point so far, but the site is so highly praised by Thomas Nelson’s CEO, Michael Hyatt, I felt it deserved a shot.
At this point, subscribing to my Facebook friends’ status updates on Bloglines far surpasses Twitter. Most of my friends on Facebook are friends in real life, so if they post an “I’m bored” update, I can call them and say, “Wanna go see a movie?” I already visit Bloglines and Facebook everyday. I subscribe to my friends’ posts and notes as well, so can see the news stories, etc. they find interesting at a glance. (No tinyurl links to debate about following.) And connecting to people you know is 100 times easier on Facebook. While both offer “find via email” options, Facebook offers networks, larger thumbnails for searching friends of friends to find mutual friends, and the constantly evolving “People you may know” tool.
Since I don’t have unlimited text messaging, Twitter is useless on my cell phone unless I go to the actual site via my web options. Just as easy to access Bloglines that way.
So I’m giving Twitter the rest of the week, but after that I’ll likely only visit the site if someone new starts following me.
To each his own! I love Twitter.
No doubt that these are excellent points, and I’ve often considered bailing on Twitter myself…
But as far as narcissism goes, is Twitter more or less narcissistic than blogging? If more, what’s the difference?
Great question, Brandon. From what I’ve seen, some blogging is very little different, save that the author is not limited to 140 characters. It’s narcissism on a bigger scale. However, you’d agree that many, many blogs are more than personal diaries and real-time emotive broadcasts. I like to think I cover some thought-provoking subjects, on occasion, at this site. But you’re right: It’s still me trying to get a hearing. And in a way, that’s narcissistic.
Please understand, I am not slamming our need for social interaction and networking. We are communal creatures and should share our lives. Heck, I have a pic site, a Myspace page, and a Facebook account. It’s an extension of my writing career, as well as a context for interaction. I have met some great people online, including yourself. But, once again, technology amplifies our flaws and, from my perspective, it’s why Twitter usually descends into trivia. It’s digital voyeurism for iExhibitionists.
Some of the best arguments for Twitter are from the business angle. “Be at the office till noon.” “Meeting w/ ___ at 4:00.” “Sell all my shares of Twitter.” etc. But being that I work full-time outside the writing field (construction), this doesn’t apply to me. I write, read email, blog in the mornings and evenings, like I am now. Perhaps if I had a business that required rat-a-tat interaction, I’d be more inclined to Twitter. But I don’t. As is, I think it would just clutter my already busy schedule.
Finally, let me add that I think Twitter is part of this ever-trending techno-infatuation that creates its own buzz. We want the latest this or that. It’s especially alluring to novice writers who are trying to get their names out there, build a readership. and bombard the airwaves. But, in the end, I think Twitter takes much more than it gives.
Hey, thanks for the comments, Brandon!
Mike,
Thanks for the response. I always appreciate the obvious thought you put into your views and opinions. I agree that many, including yourself, attempt to use their blogs for substantive discussion and actual discourse. And while I do descend into personal blasts sometimes (Exhibit A: today’s post), I try to do the same, especially as it applies to my journey into writing and becoming a writer. I’ve even dropped frequency in an attempt to be more focused.
“But, once again, technology amplifies our flaws and, from my perspective, it’s why Twitter usually descends into trivia. It’s digital voyeurism for iExhibitionists”
Agreed. Blogging, Twitter and PlatformDuJour 2.0 can all descend into narcissism when we think that what we have to say is more important than what we go there to read from others. In the skin and bones plane, that’s “Am I slow to speak and quick to listen?” I’m terrible at that, but I plod on.
“Some of the best arguments for Twitter are from the business angle.”
Interestingly, this is why I started Twitter. I’ve been writing a technology blog for the past four years and have engaged with a small community of other bloggers with similar roles. When Twitter came along, I signed up to take the conversation to a closer to real time place.
That was a year ago. Since then, I started writing fiction again, and my Twitter account has become a schizophrenic mix of TLA-filled technobabble (“Prototyping REST using the ESB in MOSS”) and self-aggrandizing blasts to let everyone who cares to listen know that yes, I am actually at my desk writing this morning.
Personally, Mike, I’ve gotten kind of sick of it, but have been unsure of whether I should just shut the thing down. Whereas you have the presence of mind to think these things through BEFORE signing up, I come to the exact same conclusions as year later. 😀
Division of the two sides of my online life aside, why am I sick of it?
“It’s especially alluring to novice writers who are trying to get their names out there, build a readership. and bombard the airwaves.”
That’s why… because I still classify myself as a novice writer. Who knows what counts as a state change, but that’s me.
And the real danger of both Twitter and un-targeted blogging is that I focus on building an audience without any substance to support it. There must, even today, still be something to be said about letting one’s writing speak for itself, no?
Thanks again for this post and for your response to my question, Mike. My hope was to trigger dialogue on a question I often ask myself. This kind of dialogue is the reason why I want to stay connected to the great folks I have met online.
– Brandon
I’m a twentysomething, and I’m still trying to figure out what Twitter is. Someone sent me a link, I looked at it, and really thought it was a glorified chat room. Honestly, people spend too much time online.
Really, the issue isn’t necessarily Blogger or Facebook or MySpace (eeeeewwww) themselves: The issue is when instead of spending time with our friends we assume they read it on Facebook. Or whatever. Same goes for phones, email, IM, texting, message forums, and everything else.
A friend of mine put it this way: “The internet is a good way to maintain friendships, but not to make them.” I’d say even that has its limitations.