Winehiker Russ told me this would happen: Initial resistance overcome by temptation, then adoption.
For those who haven’t drunk the Kool-Aid, Twitter is essentially a rolling chatroom that can be updated via web, Crackberry, iPhone and any other implement of Internet addiction. You follow other people’s tweets, and they usually reciprocate by following yours. A few folks who hang around here signed up for mine so I figured what the hell, let nature take its course.
Here’s my twitter profile, for those already among the tweeting masses.
Example of a cool use of twitter: I read this way, way hilarious spoof of the Clinton campaign by Dana Milbank of the Washington Post. Normally I wouldn’t bother with a blog post, but it was funny enough to pass along to other people, so it became a tweet. Yesterday I twittered on my visit to the eye doctor and having pupils the size of pie pans all day. Who wants to know this stuff? All I can say is: you’d be surprised.
(Hey, one guy used his Twitter account to get sprung from an Egyptian jail, so it must have something going for it).
Folks on my Twitter list at the moment:
Welcome to the dark side, Tom!
I find twitter to be a fabulously useful *and* useless thing, all at the same time. It sucks my time and attention, but at the same time, it lets me communicate quickly with friends and participate in the ‘buzz’ and conversations around the topics I cover in my daily job.
It’s also a great place to dump your thoughts to get them out of your head. What is amazing is that people read them.
This is too priceless: the day I cop to twitter, its servers crash.
I blame my brother. He got me onto Twitter. Kinda cool. I was surprised to see you there, so that makes it even more cool, heh heh.
Well, well: ol’ Tom’s been assimilac’d. Holy cow crap!
True, this Twitter microblogging thing is a rolling conversation. More than that, though, Twitter is a quick and (reasonably effective) knowledge-expander. It takes the two-way interactivity of the blog into a much more intimate setting in which you actually get to know your followers better (and they you), plus it’s simply a great idea generator, as your follow-up post proves.
I think you’ll find Twitter useful, Tom – much more than Facebook. And yes, I resisted, too. For a while. ‘Twas, indeed, futile. Welcome!
Twitterdees and Twitterdums,
I’m a Luddite when it comes to this innovative “down ‘n dirty” form of cyber-communication. Am I alone?
I don’t get the appeal – or frankly, the need – of engaging in such terse and hyper-frequent staccato exchanges, as though it’s so important that we all stay in instant touch with one another over every little thing in our lives. Like who really cares? Really!
I grok you, WineHiker, about its value and I can understand its usefulness in certain situations, but mostly I would have to agree with
the second part of Rebecca’s opinion of it being more of a “fabulously useless thing.” (Like much technology in today’s society.)
As for resistance being futile, I have always resisted those things that most people find “essential” in their outdoor or everyday experiences – tents, insect repellent, sunscreen, walking poles, campfires, pre-fab food, as well as most modern communication devises such as cell phones, blackberries, and instant messenging. Traditional e-mail is about it for old-school Gambolin’ Man.
Maybe I’m not a twitter adoptee or facebook guy because I don’t have anything of interest to chime in and chirp about every other second. (Isn’t my bloviating blog enough?) I mean, like who really cares about the minutiae of my quotidian thought processes, and vice versa. Call me up or send me a thoughtfully composed e-mail, why not, for some real communication.
I can hear you all twittering – Stop being a curmudgeon, stinker and a spoiler. If nothing else, it’s just plain fun! Lighten up, sign on, chirp away, get addicted, join the legions of “microbloggers” who can now stay in perpetual “touch” with one another. Get with the times, Gambolin’ Man!