Not loving The Twitters
I’ve decided that all proper nouns should be preceded by the definitive article and made plural (if you’re in the south, I think it’s actually possessive but without the apostrophe). Therefore, you go to The Krogers for your victuals and you post to The Twitters when you have nothing to say.
I first heard about Twitter The Twitters a few years ago when Doug and Cathy started blogging about it. But it just didn’t sound so appealing. Why micro blog when you can blog? Why watch Twitter when you can use a feed reader? And most of all, why do it through a proprietary company just intent on making money off of you?
But I finally signed on a few months ago and started giving it a shot. I started following people, I started getting followers (although most of them think I’m this guy), and I started writing.
And now I can safely say that I’ve tried it, and I just don’t care. I do think Twitter is useful for some people or for some things. If I am having trouble checking my gmail account, I will ask the Twitters if it’s just me. There’s no quicker or easier way to find out that gmail is down. But for day to day minutiae? No thanks. I’ve already got enough time wasters keeping me from working, and most people who post to Twitter cross-post to Facebook.
Yes, Twitter and Facebook have a lot in common, especially the proprietary part. But there are some significant differences, such as the size and composition of the audience and the comprehensiveness of the platform. I was slow in accepting Facebook, too, but now I get it. It’s the place to keep up with people, in text, photos, videos, and links. It’s a place to connect and to reminisce. And there are fewer of those obnoxious shortened links, where you have to click to find out if you’re being sent to cnn.com or playboy.
What I’m saying is that I mostly agree with this poll on lifehacker. Pretty much, I could do without it.
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