I dont think Twitter has any real value.
And it turns out neither do a lot of other people. 60% of those who sign up for a twitter account close it within a month.
I just read an interesting article from a guy who "gets it." He started off by explaining all the things that aren't true about twitter, such as: "its a bunch of people saying mundane things about their mundane lives," and "its just for people who are full of themselves."
Instead, he says, it is all about the conversation. Its a new way to have a conversation with lots of people, all at the same time. Oh, and its a great way to follow celebrities.
From my perspective, that makes the whole thing totally worthless. A conversation with 100 people is not a conversation at all, it is a lot of different people saying the same shallow things, or commenting in the annoyingly assertive yet intellectually vacant way that has become the norm for any kind of online forum. IMHO I think it is annoying as crap, and you a) learn nothing, and b) risk nothing. It is "discussion" for the lowest common denominator.
As for the "oh its good to follow celebrities" - fine. I dont care about celebrities. I never know anything about them unless it is painfully impossible to avoid knowing, and I am not really that interested in their artificially interesting lives.
So that said, I fully and completely do not see the point of twitter, other than the fact it is a way to pretend to converse with people without having to write more than a single sentence or really think about anything. It provides what so many are looking for online - the comfort of feeling connected, valuable, and loved while not really being any of those things.
And it turns out neither do a lot of other people. 60% of those who sign up for a twitter account close it within a month.
I just read an interesting article from a guy who "gets it." He started off by explaining all the things that aren't true about twitter, such as: "its a bunch of people saying mundane things about their mundane lives," and "its just for people who are full of themselves."
Instead, he says, it is all about the conversation. Its a new way to have a conversation with lots of people, all at the same time. Oh, and its a great way to follow celebrities.
From my perspective, that makes the whole thing totally worthless. A conversation with 100 people is not a conversation at all, it is a lot of different people saying the same shallow things, or commenting in the annoyingly assertive yet intellectually vacant way that has become the norm for any kind of online forum. IMHO I think it is annoying as crap, and you a) learn nothing, and b) risk nothing. It is "discussion" for the lowest common denominator.
As for the "oh its good to follow celebrities" - fine. I dont care about celebrities. I never know anything about them unless it is painfully impossible to avoid knowing, and I am not really that interested in their artificially interesting lives.
So that said, I fully and completely do not see the point of twitter, other than the fact it is a way to pretend to converse with people without having to write more than a single sentence or really think about anything. It provides what so many are looking for online - the comfort of feeling connected, valuable, and loved while not really being any of those things.
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