Before you ask, I don't tweet. I mean, I like to think I'm considerably more net-savvy and "down with the kids" than yer average 52-year-old, but I really don't get Twitter. OK, there might be a slight buzz in knowing what someone like Stephen Fry - a famous twitterer (notice I avoided saying twit. Oh. Damn.) - is doing from moment to moment, but for most people it must be a constant stream of mundane trivia.
Maybe that's the point.
Someone recently wrote that updating your Facebook status (something else I've stopped doing more frequently than once every couple of weeks) is equivalent to stepping out into your street and shouting "I'm going to have bangers and mash for dinner tonight!" and then going back indoors.
A good analogy which, if true, must make tweeting the equivalent of
"Going to the toilet now"
"Oh - I think it's solids"
"Wiping my arse now"
"No, still leaving a mark"
"Still wiping"
"OK. Clean now"
"Washing my hands now"
etc.
I think people sign up because they're afraid they'll miss something. Trouble is, the more people that sign up, the more likely it is that you will miss something. It's like having a website. Not so long ago - maybe, what? Ten years? Fifteen? - you were bleeding edge if you had a website. Now URLs are everywhere and you're considered a bit weird and antiquated if you don't have a website. Businesses especially. Everyone expects to be able to type in "hoover.com" and immediately find product details, nearest dealers, latest news, history of the firm, returns policy, recent recalls, whatever. It's just part of the fabric of society. And with immense and frightening rapidity, Twitter is getting there too.
Now, I'm seeing "follow us on Twitter" on company websites. Imagine that. You can follow Hoover and get minute-by-minute updates about new vacuum cleaners. Sorry, what? I mean, seriously, WTF?
So last night, North West Tonight (for the benefit of non-UKers and, probably, most non-Northwesters, that's our local magazine news programme) Gordon Burns was making a big thing about His First Tweet. He's been sending out an email newsletter for ages, which is pretty net-savvy and down-with-the-kids in its own right. I mean the guy's 67 ffs, so all credit to him. But now he's caught the Twitter bug too.
And then bugger me but here's John Humphreys on the Radio 4 Today programme this morning - that bastion of British Correctness And Rectitude - and he's doing it too!
Christ on a bike.
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4 comments:
I understand completely, John. I used to be one of a very few people who were in to computers. Now everything is computerized, miniaturized, wi-fi'd, etc. I just don't know what to do with all this. I don't feel the need for it, so I don't keep up on the latest stuff. Then I feel like I've lost the edge in technology because I don't use it or find it useful.
This is me becoming an old fart, I think!
I found this funny :D LOL dad, LOL <3 But I agree completely, and I'm what, twenty? I barely update/check Facebook as it is, let alone twitter. AND it has a bird-y name.
Great post Dig.
Not a twitterer but am a Facebook fiend. The trouble is I find it all a bit childish. Too many pictures and games and no I don't want to find out what type of pizza I am :(
I got roped in by an American chum, the bees knees she said it was, I pop in occasionally but only to write on my 'wall' stuff like it's raining and I haven't had me dinner. Christ almighty:(
Doesn't anyone ever write letters any more?
LOL that bit about bangers and mash was right on the mark. No, sorry, I hate Twitter. It's like a complete waste of space. <3
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