Which brings me to why I have been so reluctant to explore Twitter and give it a fair shake. First, the name. Twitter? Tweets!?? KM and I spent a good month riffing on this new social networking language by calling each other out whenever we found the other to be telling us something meaningless, as in: "My foot fell asleep. Twizzler!". "I can't find my stapler. Twaddum!" "Maybe we should clip the cats' nails. Twaff! Twerpy!" This suprisingly provided entertainment for us long after the joke was old. (And truthfully, I'd have been more inclined to use it if it was called something cooler, like "Informant," "WhisperSecret," or "InfoVomit").
Of course, our joke was going on when I was still fairly sure Twitter as a trend would eventually implode and bottom out, like "The Rachel" haircut or backwards clothing inspired by Kris Kross, or The Snuggie. It was just too silly to take seriously as a cultural trend. Not only that, but it is an editor or writer's worst nightmare: 140 character non-sentences that encourage horrendous use of language, and no introduction, description or transition sentences to soften the blunt force of information (akin to plopping bits of a raw, bloody mess of meat on plate - no dressing, no cooking, no marinating in a discerning, thoughtful brain before being served up to the consumer). In short, the very idea of the back-assward masses giving each other "news", or distributing whiney thoughts and feelings that are best left locked in an gothy live-journal entry bothered me.
And indeed, when I started exploring Twitter, that's a lot of what I found; friends giving status updates, stupid jokes taking up space, your basic Facebook status update. BUT, the reason I was even deigning to log on to Twitter was that I was beginning to concede that it actually might have a useful side - or at least a side that wouldn't make me want to commit hari-kari with my calligraphy pen should it last into the future.
One, I can see how it can be a short, useful way of distributing up-to-the-minute news. From tweeting an open parking spot (Twitter is working on incorporating a GPS-like functionality so users may be able to do just that) to the oft-cited college kid who was released from an Egyptian jail because of a savvy tweet, I'm conceding there MAY be some practical use in being a twit..terer.
Second, it appears to be a useful business and marketing tool. You may have already read some of the stories about shoppers this holiday season being able to tweet for customer service help (better than waiting on an endless phone queue because the tweets appear publicly and the business has more incentive to help), or finding great deals on twitter (businesses can directly target followers who are interested). In fact, following a business or service seems to be a form of direct marketing that actually allows consumers to choose what promo crap they WANT to be sent for a period of time, which is good for both consumer and business. Business saves money by targeting people they know are interested in a low-cost way, and consumer can remove the business anytime they choose. Er, at least ideally that would be the way it would happen.
But for these two uses, however, I still don't see the point of tweeting your inner thoughts every second, when you can do it on this, and this, and even this. There are only so many ways we need to send status updates- that is, um, if we even need to at all, since we are all afflicted with at least one Facebook friend that feels the need to update their friends about when they are going to bed, feeling [broad emotion], or other boring-as-hell info. For now, Twitter stands as an evolving mix of these uses, and I hope it becomes more of the business and news tool it should be, rather than emo-party twatters tweeting with nothing to talk about than their own twatting tweets. Give me a news story, sure. Give me what you ate for breakfast, twuck off.
