Twitter

User avatar
Netizen
Posts: 197
Joined: Wed 17 Oct, 2007 19.16
Location: Wakefield

Oh crap, I'm getting this uneasy feeling of paranoia I got a couple of years ago when it seemed that I can't go 5 bloody minutes without hearing about Facebook and that I was a social luddite for not being on it. I now feel compelled to get a twitter account despite nothing interesting happening in my life (at the moment). It'd be like blogging to brick wall.
rts
Posts: 1637
Joined: Fri 15 Aug, 2003 14.09

Interesting article from the Grauniad about Twitter pollution. A similar problem that occured when blogs started.

http://tinyurl.com/bcdrst
Image
Ant
Posts: 630
Joined: Sat 15 May, 2004 13.48
Location: Edinburgh

I'm the only person in my Hotmail contacts that actually has an account so I can't see myself using it at all. To me it looks like Facebook, but not quite as good.

Although I did hate Facebook when it first started...
DAS
Posts: 925
Joined: Tue 19 Aug, 2003 16.35
Location: The Kingdom of Leather

I am kind of Twittering to myself at the moment, or at least I was until some guy I haven't seen since high school added me after obviously doing a Hotmail search. The main reason I signed up and posted some dross in May was to get an account before Twitter took off - which I think it is about to - and therefore demonstrate what a cool cat I am. And it's taken that amount of time for me to get interested - but I am slowly getting into it.

I can't work out why. I remember doing a similar sort of thing with Facebook. Back in the day when you had to be "invited" to join once your uni or workplace had its own network I signed up when I could, but I just didn't get it. It was no Myspace. It took a good six months for anyone I knew to appear. And as soon as they did, the rest was history. At least with Facebook I can understand its use and enjoyment. On paper, Twitter is rubbish. But I think there's something interesting about recording text message-sized snapshots of your life and thoughts, and this idea is now moving from mainly business users to the public at large, perhaps courtesy of some marketing from Jonathan Ross and Stephen Fry.
Jake
Posts: 216
Joined: Tue 27 Jun, 2006 13.00
Location: Derbyshire

Hmmm...
I've just taken the plunge following Stephen Fry's rave review. Not sure whether I'll use it or not though, like Ant I'm the only person in my Hotmail contacts to have signed up so I'll see how it goes.

http://twitter.com/TonyLeMesmer
rts
Posts: 1637
Joined: Fri 15 Aug, 2003 14.09

Very much with you DAS. I remember when I first heard about Facebook, and it was pretty much just US instituions that were on it. I was much more a MySpace person, slagged off Facebook. Just another social networking tool. But three years down the line, here we are.

I'm slowly getting into Twitter. It does not have as many functions as Facebook - but I quite like that. It's purpose is for mini blogging, updates on our musings and thoughts, and being able to see quickly at a glance at feed see what others are up to.

They are two different mediums, and I do believe that this time next year, most of us will be "tweeting".
Image
User avatar
Gavin Scott
Admin
Posts: 6442
Joined: Fri 15 Aug, 2003 13.16
Location: Edinburgh
Contact:

rts wrote:They are two different mediums, and I do believe that this time next year, most of us will be "tweeting".
Y'all don't want to know what I'm thinking most of the time.

Trust me on that.

I doubt I'll be tweeting.
User avatar
lukey
Posts: 587
Joined: Thu 25 May, 2006 01.11
Location: London
Contact:

Eek, I started looking at my very first tweets from early 2007, where I seemed to be taking the 'What are you doing?' idea to its logical conclusion, with thrilling updates like:

"Need a shower" - 10:34
"Going for a shower" - 10:55
"Just out of shower" - 11:17

As for the Facebook comparisons - other than the status update idea they're just not competing - I wouldn't call Twitter a social network, just as much as I wouldn't call 'blogging' one. It's merely a platform that lets people contort it how they want. You'll have the "9:15pm - Just had a wank" types, those covering the news, and those trying to cajole their audience into conversation.
rts
Posts: 1637
Joined: Fri 15 Aug, 2003 14.09

I don't like lots of clutter when browsing, but this looks handy:

http://www.friendbar.com/
Image
User avatar
Sput
Posts: 7547
Joined: Wed 20 Aug, 2003 19.57

rts wrote:I don't like lots of clutter when browsing, but this looks handy:

http://www.friendbar.com/
I notice that fits into less than 140 characters. If only there was a dedicated place you could post such crumbs and people could choose whether to follow them :)
Knight knight
Please Respond