What's the big deal with Twitter?
Okay, I’ve been signed up on Twitter for several weeks. I have a handful of followers and seven or eight folks I’m following.
I still can’t see what the big deal is.
The “tweets” I’m getting here seem like rejects from a Chinese fortune cookie factory.
Many of my unfollowed “followers” appear to have something to sell. A house, a vacation in the Bahamas, a dinette, a hair tint, a massage.
I’ve used my 140 characters to alert my followers that I’ve posted yet another issue of The Hillsdale News. The little on-line newspaper can be found here.
I’ve also invited followers to join me cleaning up litter in Hillsdale. Surprise, none showed up. Who can blame them? They have hair to tint and backs to rub.
I’ve experimented with “news bursts.” So-and-so in the neighborhood died, a new store is opening, etc. Frankly, none of these tweets is important if you perch in a far-away tree, as most of my followers do. It may not be important even if you roost on a branch in this one.
I’ve read about the guy who wrote “Arrested!” because he was, and a whole bunch of followers came to his assistance. “Freed!” he tweeted, because he thought they'd like to know.
I still can’t figure out how, in custody, he was allowed to keep his smart phone to text his admittedly brief message. Perhaps he did it before the cuffs were clamped on. As for me, I'd still be fumbling around in my "contacts" list.
Mastering my cellphone is still on my "to do" list.
I suppose I’m being too rough on Twitter. I could ask the same questions about blogging in general and The Red Electric in particular.
What’s the point? Don’t we all have better things to do?
On second thought, at least with a tweet, I’m done in 140 characters.
According to my word count program, this post is somewhere north of 1400 characters, ten tweets. I could have said it with one: “OK. I give. What’s the big deal with Twitter?”
Come to think of it, I’ll go to my Twitter site and post exactly that. I'll tweet you what I find out, if you "follow" me.
Do you?
I still can’t see what the big deal is.
The “tweets” I’m getting here seem like rejects from a Chinese fortune cookie factory.
Many of my unfollowed “followers” appear to have something to sell. A house, a vacation in the Bahamas, a dinette, a hair tint, a massage.
I’ve used my 140 characters to alert my followers that I’ve posted yet another issue of The Hillsdale News. The little on-line newspaper can be found here.
I’ve also invited followers to join me cleaning up litter in Hillsdale. Surprise, none showed up. Who can blame them? They have hair to tint and backs to rub.
I’ve experimented with “news bursts.” So-and-so in the neighborhood died, a new store is opening, etc. Frankly, none of these tweets is important if you perch in a far-away tree, as most of my followers do. It may not be important even if you roost on a branch in this one.
I’ve read about the guy who wrote “Arrested!” because he was, and a whole bunch of followers came to his assistance. “Freed!” he tweeted, because he thought they'd like to know.
I still can’t figure out how, in custody, he was allowed to keep his smart phone to text his admittedly brief message. Perhaps he did it before the cuffs were clamped on. As for me, I'd still be fumbling around in my "contacts" list.
Mastering my cellphone is still on my "to do" list.
I suppose I’m being too rough on Twitter. I could ask the same questions about blogging in general and The Red Electric in particular.
What’s the point? Don’t we all have better things to do?
On second thought, at least with a tweet, I’m done in 140 characters.
According to my word count program, this post is somewhere north of 1400 characters, ten tweets. I could have said it with one: “OK. I give. What’s the big deal with Twitter?”
Come to think of it, I’ll go to my Twitter site and post exactly that. I'll tweet you what I find out, if you "follow" me.
Do you?
Labels: The Hillsdale News, tweets, Twitter
posted by Rick Seifert at
5:43 PM
3 Comments
