I signed up at Twitter, initially, to follow Mrs. Palin and Amanda Palmer. I couldn’t handle the former but the latter rewarded me with a free concert last night.
Then, I started tweeting just to annoy people. When that didn’t go anywhere, I forgot about Twitter. Then I came back and tried again.
Now, I have 124 followers but sadly for them I have nothing to say. Nontheless, I go there a couple of times a day and torture myself by scrolling through pointless nonsense tweeted by people I don’t know and mostly wouldn’t want to know.
Why are we tweeting, everyone? Whatever the motives that are driving Twitter, it can’t be good for civilization.
Here are my limited observations so far:
1. People want you to know what they ate.
2. People need to communicate every idle scrap of thought that pops into their heads.
3. People like to LOL at one another.
4. People think they derive status from their Tweeting associations.
5. People use Twitter instead of personal email, in order to have an audience.
6. The more people you follow, the more time-consuming it is to find anything interesting.
7. Kanye West is a big deal.
8. It’s important to follow another rapper and then retweet their illiterate musings.
BUT! On a positive note, Twitter has taught me this:
9. It’s fun to read people’s tweets as they watch “X Factor” especially if you’ve never seen it.
10. Rumi Neely is actually smart, witty and gracious. I like her! I stand corrected.
Twitter is adding to the clutter I’m stuffing my brain with on a daily basis and I know it’s time to be more selective. I’ve unsubscribed to a million mailing lists with ten million more to go. I’m finding that I know too much about Lanvin for Target and too little about world affairs. It’s going to be tough to unlearn my bad Internet habits. We’ll see how far I get.
Okay. Now explain Twitter.
Oh admit it, you love twitter~
Don’t go near The Tweeter myself, but my wife sometimes reads aloud the more amusing twits of a small selection of comics — especially Todd Berry — and I’m sure that I’ve chuckled. So maybe it’s a useful tool for established and aspiring joke writers. I have no idea where all this ephemeral infoclutter leads.
#10- Are you serious, Sister?!? I hate to say it, but *whispers* told you so. Or told you I liked her, anyway.
Twitter is for news IMHO – the first place to go online for any current affairs.
I use it to promote my blog and occasionally communicate with other bloggers or find out interesting stuffs.
But its the fastest way news spreads these days. Worldwide live chat.
Aja – I swear to you Aja, I find it infuriating because I don’t understand what I’m supposed to get out of it!
Chip – Can she read to me too??
Dru – I am serious! You were right, if you told me so.
Esz – Ok. I follow BBC news but maybe there’s a better news source?
How else would you know about my giveaways Sisterwolf? BTW, I have one coming up that you’ll love. xo
You’re right. Twitter does just add to the clutter – and a lot of tweets are downright banal. I don’t like it. You either end up following a load of people you admire – who just ignore you, so it makes you feel like a complete outsider or as you mentioned following people you don’t really know or want to know. I started tweeting to promote new blog posts, then when I found myself twittering on about what I was wearing on a Saturday night, I knew it was time to tweet off. I can’t compete with Kanye.
Well you know Twitter is sport for me on a Saturday night when X Factor is on! I quite like the banality of it and the witty tweets. Where else would you find out that handsome chaps are at Green Park tube selling poppies on a Thursday morning. But I should read the newspapers more too xx
Can someone explain Facebook to me?
It seems that the word ‘friend’ means something else too ….
I understand ‘poking’ is rife too …
I tend to use it for attention seeking and passive aggression.
It doesn’t bring out the best in me.
I do enjoy reading the messages from people funnier than myself – and since your correspondence with her, Rumi’s in that list too.
I vote 2, 3, the ocassional 5 and definitely 6 which is why I try to keep my following to a minimum and have lists for specific interests (football, comedians etc). I try not to question my own Twitter use too much (most it stems from boredom) though I do wonder about other people’s sometimes. Like you say, it’s good for chatting/watching other people chat about the xfactor and the like (for UK Xfactor you MUST follow Popjustice, he is hilarious).
Civilisation, schmivilisation. Sometimes things are just for fun.
I am the same as you when it comes to unsubscribing though. Why am I letting so many companies spam me, but with my permission?
Oh, I forgot to say that Twitter is amazing for marvelling at right winger Americans. Just try searching ‘socialism’.
I am a Twitter failure. I follow 3 people and visit it every six months to see if they are doing anythng interesting. They aren’t.
I’m with you sister, I just don’t understand.
I tried it but it ain’t for me (I thought I was being a bit thick and wondered if I was missing a vital aspect – but no, it’s crap)
Facebook I do do (is that English?) but I just don’t get it when, for instance, random girls I know, their boyfriends want to ‘befriend’ me??? and one woman – who is really quite unfriendly to me in person – asked to be my ‘friend’ on Facebook.
I find myself accepting them but with a bemused look on my face because I don’t want to be rude.
Are these people just trying to bump up their numbers?
I don’t get it either.
Like there isn’t enough background noise in the world already.
Tweets introduced me to X Factor, which I watch on YouTube whenever I remember!
I joined and left twitter twice before really ‘getting’ it. I find it is a little like being in a room at a party and overhearing bits of other peoples conversations – some of them certainly are banal, some are funny, some are useful, and others you want to join in with and can find funny little things in common with people you have never met. I have actually met people in real life through twitter conversations, and they are now proper friends. The whole thing does take some getting used to though, and at times I just can’t be bothered – again, like a party you can join in or leave whenever you want, which is kind of nice.
I’ve never been on Twitter. I’ve seen people scrolling through what seems like endless piles of rubbish to find something interesting. I too don’t get it.
I left Facebook because I didn’t what to know what people from my school days were having for their breakfast. Hell, I don’t want to know what my good friends are having for breakfast, what the weather is like in their neck of the woods or how crappy their hangover is.
I do like reading good blogs. If I can learn something or look at something wonderful, or read a well written article then thats brilliant!
I actually today wrote a little contest for my followers (of which I at this moment have a 101) as I cannot figure out why they follow me. Why would they. To read me saying silly things like: I don’t feel well. I don’t understand it.
Use it mainly to connect with local business people since we moved here only recently.
I’m addicted to Twitter. Full-on. It’s worse than Facebook, because it’s essentially just a rolling status update. But I have found out about job opportunities through it, and made some great virtual friends 😛
I have also found that the more people you follow, the less interested you become. Hence why I have fewer followers than people who follow me, and thus look massively famous and successful, when really I’m just lazy.
it’s become a way to connect with people to make money. If you notice, almost every business has a twitter page. For example: Opening Ceremony tweets that you can pre-order your spring/summer 2011 only this week!! Massive orders are placed= more $$ for them! Barneys tweets their new shoe additions to their web site for sale and we all want first dibs. It’s interesting that when Barneys first came to the web, there was not much to buy. They still wanted to keep that exclusivity that you can only get from a visit to the store. But, gradually, they started to put everything on the web and tweeting it. Why? $$$. No one wants to be left out. I signed up on twitter, when my salon went on it, to support them. Amanda Palmer is unusual in that she really communicates with her fans that way. I missed the concert the other day, but have watched several of her webcasts due to twitter. But she is kind of unusual. Yes, she uses twitter, but she is not in it for the money she can make.
And also, you don’t want to be the last person on earth who doesn’t have a twitter page, do you? Once in awhile I will reply to someone, but they don’t really care what I have to say. I think that twitter is all another facet of the new narcissism that has invaded pop culture. Reality shows, blogs flaunting our newest purchases and fawning over how beautiful and amazing we are. (Of course, I am not part of the collective “we”.) My husband would kill me if I blogged about my purchases! And for me, part of the baby boom generation, it still doesn’t feel right to put it all out there. I will always be amazed at the banality of what some people say on twitter. Personally, I think that people are more interesting when there is a little mystery.
I really only follow some musicians and actors and like 2 people I know personally. Oh, and Maru. It’s crucial to follow Maru.
The main thing I’ve learned from it lately is that LOADS of chubby young girls dressed up this Halloween as Penelope Garcia from Criminal Minds (and did a very pathetic job of it). I follow the actress who plays her – SW she’s good friends with AFP so if you didn’t like her before, you should now.
And now, I’ll follow you! But yeah, it is overwhelming, and a bit annoying to go through 100 tweets that are completely irrelevant to you. I suppose it’s a good tool if you have tons of followers and you’re trying to promote something.
I LOVE Twitter. But you already know this since I clutter your Twitter feed multiple times a day with my inane bullshit. I keep waiting for the day you drop me. I follow a lot of sports journalists and news outlets. Most of the other folks I follow are my real life friends, including you. I LOVE following you, and I really hope you don’t leave the site. I have found that some of my friends are much funnier in 140 characters than they are in regular life! I’ve enjoyed reading Rumi on there too – she’s quite witty and I LOVED your interactions with her last week!
I know it serves some purpose but I don’t know what it is. For me, it’s just a source of amusement and a way to keep up with the news.
Comedians are great on twitter- short bursts of funny to brighten the day.
Just found out there’s a cupcake truck on 34th & Park Avenue, so I really like Twitter for that. Also I like to send my intern out on 34th Street once a week and tweet photos of stuff he likes. Then there’s NYFW during which he actually tweets his honest opinion about clothes. OMG.
I dream of becoming a practicing Luddite.
I use Twitter sporadically because I just don’t have the time. I have some brilliant, funny friends whose tweets reflect their personalities and ideas. They look at it as a micro blogging site and as a huge text chat app. We had an impressive “Who Should Be Running for Mayor of Chicago” series of analytical tweets a while ago; it was pundit-worthy and we should be getting paid for that sh*t! Very few of the people I follow use it to post banal minutia. And that’s a good thing because I would stop following them.
Amanda Palmer is absolutely brilliant in her use of Twitter. She uses it as a tool, like an artist’s brush. And, SW, I’ve read from numerous trusted sources that Mrs. Palin does not compose/write her own Tweets or her own Facebook status updates. Apparently she’s hired someone just as illiterate as she is to do that for her.
Honeypants- I love love love Maru totally makes my day, btw are we talking about the same Maru the cat ?
PS – I was just informed where my favorite food truck will be and what the specials are for today via Twitter. Woohoo!! And my cousin posted a photo of her just-completed painting, which already has two potential buyers.
I signed up for Twitter quite some time ago and I also didn’t get it at all. I haven’t checked it since about a week after I started up. But after reading all of these comments, it sounds interesting. Can you join just in order to follow people? I really don’t have much to say in the lines of tweeting.
PPS – And the BBC just informed me that lions killed a showering Zimbabwean. As you can see, this is SUPER important stuff!!
And I love Rumi too. She always has sweaters I have or sweaters I want. That’s enough reason for some adoration in my book.
#1 I counter act all my mindless internetting with being in school. Or vice versa.
#2 I have never thought Rumi Neely was dumb, she just prefers to show pretty and not brains.
#3 Fuck Kanye
#4 I enjoy your tweeting banter.
Twitter makes me feel like a mind reader in a mental hospital where the patients are all trying to sell me something.
On the other hand, i am one of the offenders who updates my face-book constantly.
On a positive twitter note, I did get the Waffle Truck to come to my neighborhood in NYC one day a week. Thank you, twitter!
Twitter = Clutter. I don’t care what Kanye cluts.
Do you hate this guy yet?
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/04/fashion/04ZAHM.html
I must say that when I saw Rumi’s Twitter response to your tweet about the US weekly thing I thought you’d like her. She’s a very entertaining/witty blogger and handles her shit well. Oh jeez. I feel like I’m back in middleschool
A more productive-feeling way to waste time.
Also, even though he doesn’t tweet much anymore, Rainn Wilson is a great one to follow. Hilarious. Sarah Silverman as well
BreakingNews is good. I also follow a bunch of comedians. It’s nice having something funny to perk me up when I’m bored. I don’t like to follow people who only tweet links to their latest blog posts or tweet incessantly (cough Kanye).
I like knowing what friends in town are up to, what events are going on locally, and just out of morbid curiosity it’s fun to peek into strangers’ lives. I’ve met some really great people on Twitter actually! You just have to be careful about what occupies your feed. Delete people if they get on your nerves. Forget about hurting anyone’s feelings. It’s your time they’re sucking up as you scroll past their junk!
why is it so relieving to like somebody you once thought was a moron? its strangely ingratiating. Every time I discover I like somebody I once thought I disliked or had a bad experience with the world seems like a better place for about a day or so. and then I like the person with ferocity for a while to hold onto that feeling.
I don’t get twitter and Im making an effort to not get twitter so that I won’t become the addicted tweeting fuckwad that i’m destined to be for at least another year.
but checking up on sea’s gaysian fetish every once in a while is pretty entertaining.
Honeypants – I will check out Maru!
Rackkandruin – I already like her by then, that’s why I was teasing her about the Smithsonian. Team Rumi!
Marky – Oh god, HATE that fucker. Scumbag x douche.
theresa – I don’t know, but it does feel encouraging, like your worst estimations aren’t ALWAYS accurate, and then you’re so grateful you want to marry them. I’ve had the experience enough to treasure it.
Lara – GREAT ADVICE! Deleted a few and already feeling better.
Maru has a twitter account?!
I assume we’re talking about the fat Japanese cat. We are, right? I love that cat.
I didn’t know Maru had a twitter account either! Those videos are addictive to say the least.
Hmm, I have to disagree with you Sister Wolf. In my humble opinion Twitter is what you decide to let it become. If you follow useless people with nothing to say except what type of fruit they put on their cereal you will be rewarded with such trivial nonsense. However its fun to follow brands you like so you can find out about giveaways or if you’re a fashion student like me to find out about runway shows and trends as they emerge (which to some would also be classified as tribial nonsense). It’s also a great promotional tool if you have stuff to sell. But that’s just me and I’m a bit of a social networking whore.
Trivial not tribilal!
I attempt to do less to free up more time so I may actually venture outside once in awhile, therefore I shun online contact save for the occasional rare post. I may have to revise my rule soon so I can actually join the Sierra club or some such local group which revolves around hiking, as long as I don’t have to email/text/IM/tweet about hiking… just sign up & show up.
In the early 90s, I saw a film called “Denise Calls Up” at the Seattle Film Festival. It was before its time in an, I believe, unintended Nostradamean way. A circle of best friends speak many times daily via phone yet never meet up & hadn’t for years. Many of them also work from home via computer to further complete their world of no human contact ever. If that Mommie Dearest film with Faye Dunaway were made today, she’d scream that rather than protest clothes hangers. The best friends make lunch plans/dates but no one ever shows, hold birthday parties which no one ever attends & even are no-shows for funerals of their best friends… of course, the obligatory I’m sorry phone calls are prompt & curteous.
The last scenes are of a man & woman (both best friends of the group of best friends) who are supposed to meet as blind dates at a holiday party. Of course, they’ve spoken via phone many times. They cross paths in the street just outside the building, kind of sort of spot the desperate face of the other stressed out human passing by as the life form they’re supposed to meet, suddenly realize the evening would require the interaction they spend their lives avoiding & continue walking in opposite directions… never attending the party, never meeting each other or anyone, ever.
We are living that now. Twitter is only a continuation of no human contact ever & I’m sure written sideways is Aramaic for the Anti-Christ. Singles used to go to coffee shops in the hopes of a chance to speak to other singles, bringing along a paperback as pulp courage to hide one’s glance so one didn’t look lonely, available & single. I can’t even see faces anymore… everyone in line at Starbucks or on the bus/train has head tilted forward while thumbs move frantically over keyboards, talking to best friends like Denise through a Blackberry, Iphone, Netbook or any ordinary cellphone. We have to speak to people through devices now. Those are the new rules. I believe it’s posted in Starbucks that we may only speak to the human at the next table if WiFi is on, infared ports have connected & parties are utilizing IM. I’m pretty sure the kids are calling that cybersex. I don’t want cybersex. I’d like to have a boyfriend. I just have no bloody idea whom to email/text/Tweet.
I’m glad I could come here to share my thoughts with my circle of best friends. Call me!!!
It’s micro blogging for people with short attention spans like me. And a way to have a shared experience watching #theapprentice or #xfactor where you can hate on annoying people with others and therefore enjoy the hating even more. In real time.