Apr 10

Slate commentary on the Twitter phenomenon

Social Media, Web 2.0 Add comments

I know, I know. Some of you just don’t get it. I’m not sure anyone really does. Twitter may be nothing more than a cathartic release of pent up thoughts. Or a fad. Or maybe a complete waste of time.

Regardless of where you stand, Michael Agger has written an interesting little article at Slate titled What Are You Doing? The Allure of Twitter, the Latest Web Sensation. I still prefer Jaiku over Twitter, but the Twitter is where the people are.

Of course, if you check my Twitter archive, you’ll notice a downward participation trend. Maybe the wave has crested?

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4 Responses to “Slate commentary on the Twitter phenomenon”

  1. Tigerblade said:
    April 10th, 2007 at 5:08 pm

    If you check *my* twitter archive, you’ll notice a participation trend of not updating at all. with the exception of the message I just posted, simply to clear out the last one.

    I’ve pretty much abandoned Twitter, and I practically never update Jaiku. Sure, my Jaiku feed continues to collect from my last.fm feed, and the feed off my own site (and the stale Twitter feed), but otherwise I just ignore it completely. I gave both of ‘em a whirl, and it just doesn’t appeal to me.

    What I don’t understand is why someone would choose to follow me now, when I haven’t updated in weeks. I was just notified the other day that I now have a new follower, one Leland Harding III, who posts his website address in EVERY tweet. Subtle, eh?

  2. Jeff Hester said:
    April 10th, 2007 at 8:36 pm

    There is sometimes a very spam-like aspect to some tweets (or even jaikus). Lots of people are using it to build links back to their own sites and promote their “brand” (whatever that may be). Some are just more blatant about it than others.

    I think there may be a place for this with REAL friends — as opposed to the hordes of unwashed masses that some people collect (myself included). You know — people that I work with, or play with, and want to update en masse. This could be of real value.

    I also think that it might also be of value as one component in a time management system, ala ‘Getting Things Done.’ I haven’t quite formulated just how, or why it would be useful, unless maybe as an ad hoc log, accessible from anywhere with a net connection. But the idea is still in gestation.

    I’m still using it, but in spurts. I will continue to lose interest, and eventually abandon it, if I don’t begin to find some additional value soon.

  3. Xerraire said:
    April 13th, 2007 at 6:19 pm

    I haven’t tried it, (you know me, I seem to always come in late on these things), but it does seem to be something that would be difficult to keep up with…to carry on indefinately.

    I think my personal blog serves to update friends ‘en masse’, and I have even slowed down with that.

  4. Jeff Hester said:
    April 14th, 2007 at 12:17 pm

    Xerraire, the thing about twitter is that you don’t need to spend a lot of time thinking of something worthy of an entire page. You only have 140 characters anyway. It’s great for super-short little blurbs; what you’re doing, or a link to something interesting (a new photo of yours, perhaps, or even a link to your latest blog post).

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