According to Friend Owl, nearly everybody gets Twitterpated in the springtime. Well, to quote Thumper… “It’s not gonna happen to me!”Yes friends, at the risk of losing followers, I am here to stand up and say, “Hi, my name is Sarah and I refuse to Twitter.”
I’m sorry if this offends anyone, but I find the whole Twitter phenomenon just a little bit ridiculous. I know I will probably be shunned from the blogging community for saying this, because so many claim it to be such a great networking tool. But still, I feel the need to justify my reasoning.
A few months ago I decided to stop updating my Facebook status, because I felt like it was pretty self-absorbed to believe all my friends were interested in knowing about each and every time I enjoyed the sunshine, had a cup of coffee, or got spit on by a homeless person on the bus. I just felt creepy about informing the entire world what I was doing every 10 minutes of the day. It seemed a bit excessive and besides, who has time for that? I would rather spend my very limited and valuable free time communicating in person with my actual flesh-and-blood friends.
Personally, I blog because I love to write. And I am happy to share that writing with others and receive feedback. But I don’t understand the fascination with Twitter… It’s just like blogging more frequently, except obviously 140 characters doesn’t give someone enough room to write anything of substance. So in my opinion, Twitter is just another outlet for meaningless ramblings and tacky gossip.
I have a good friend who says the appeal of Twitter is that it’s loaded with people who don’t communicate otherwise. For example, celebrities and musicians who would never blog, but have time to update something simple like Twitter (even though I think most of those accounts are fake and/or managed by personal assistants). My friend is also attracted to Twitter because he feels it frees people to communicate and “tweet” at each other constantly, whereas by comparison people hardly ever comment on one another’s blogs. You can read more of his thoughts on Twitter here.
He also notes that there’s a certain amount of guilt attached with blogging. How many times have you read, “Sorry I haven’t written in so long, but…” on a blog? There’s some kind of unspoken rule that blogs have to be deeply introspective or profound. The need to please your audience creates tremendous pressure in the blogging world, but with Twitter’s character limit, it’s perfectly acceptable to sum up your life in just a quick phrase.
But Twitter seems to have become a real addition. I’ve had drinks with friends before who aren’t even paying attention because they are too busy on their iPhones, updating their status on Twitter. Seriously? It’s more important to tweet to the rest of the world that you’re “having a great time at happy hour” than to actually enjoy being at happy hour?
It’s just not for me. As much as I adore all of my friends, I don’t need to follow their every move… it just seems weirdly voyeuristic to me. I’m constantly scrambling because there are not enough hours in the day, and I already waste enough time on the internet. The last thing I need is another web addiction.
"Tweet-tweet, tweet-tweet! Tweet-tweet, tweet-tweet!" says Friend Owl. “Hm! Pain in the pinfeathers, I call it!”
All this being said, I am not unaware of all the publicity Twitter is getting. So please, I’d welcome some feedback from all you Tweeters out there!
15 comments:
I think you will find this video amusing.
Skip ahead to 1:25 for the Twitter commentary. :)
I have been debating whether or not to keep using Twitter. It can be fun and useful for building contacts. I don't follow anyone who tells me their at happy hour. I don't care. I follow people who pose questions and start conversations or who say funny things. At the same time, there aren't enough hours in the day for all this social media!
Hey SarahBeth,
I mostly agree with you - although I love updating my fb status, albeit once or twice a week not every 10 minutes.
I really do not understand the fascination with twitter and it seems to be another marketing tool in maintaining your celebrity status.
We had too many news reports about Hugh Jackman's twitter gaffe the other week. He called the Opera House the "Opera Center" ... so journos here were all upset at two things - that he called it the Opera Centre and that he spelt centre wrong (in our eyes!).
It finally came out that while he was in Sydney, it was a staff member in the US who had updated twitter and something got lost in translation.
I love Hugh - and he is currently using Twitter to give away $100K to charity - but you can't help being a little sceptical when this account was set up the week of Wolverine being premiered in Australia.
So I guess the short of it is ... I agree! I won't be setting up a twitter account - but I will update my fb and linked in status semi regularly.
bek
I see your point. I really do.
That being said, I'm a nosy, nosy person and I adore Twitter and Facebook status updates. I like knowing what people are doing, it satisfies me on a very weird level. I don't completely understand why, but I like it.
I don't have very many IRL friends on Twitter, mostly blog friends. I also follow a lot of journalists and news sites, and lot's of people use the site to post links to interesting articles online. I like that because they are often articles I wouldn't have found or read on my own!
PS: I really like your blog and I just added it to my reader :-)
Amen, I do admit I signed up for one, but I do not get the point nor do I find it interesting at all.
Definitely haven't given into the Twitter phenomenon and don't plan to. In fact, I've been contemplating closing down my MySpace page as you did some time back. I never use it, and it really is silly to have two social networking pages; however, I feel some connection to MySpace since it is where Clint and I reconnected, ya know? What do you think? Should I keep it for sentimental value or shut that shit down?
Good for you!
I have a Twitter account and kind of hate it, really.
Wow, can I just say I'm overwhelmed by all the logical responses I am getting! I thought y'all would drop me like it's hot for shunning Twitter! ;-)
lowcoolant - Love it. My new response to public Tweeters is definitely going to be, "Guys? Guys? Come on, I'm scared!"
M.J. - I agree, social media takes up far too much of my time as it is!
bek - Thanks for your comments, I hadn't heard about the Hugh Jackman situation, but that sort of thing is exactly why I hate the idea of "following" celebrities on Twitter... it always ends up that it's a fake account or some idiot personal assistant updating the page, and not the actual celeb.
Amber - I appreciate the compliment, thanks for adding me! And I definitely see your points re: Twitter, so thanks for sharing them.
The Grindstaffs - I technically signed up for a Twitter account, too, a long time ago. But like you I never really figured out how it works and lost interest quickly...
Cailin - Time to let the MySpace page go, darlin'. Seeing as Clint's now your hubby, I don't think you need to hold onto the silly social networking site anymore! ;-) Shut that sh*t down!
peterdewolf - Out of curiosity, do you hate your Twitter account for any particular reason(s)?
I'm with you on this one for now...I still don't totally have a grasp on why people would want to hear of my activities every minute of the day (unless I was a celebrity, I suppose).
I also have friends who constantly seem to be commenting on their life instead of just enjoying it. I could, however, possibly see it being useful to link to a blog for easy following. In general, though,
I agree with you that the voyeurism is a little over the top...even if I'm guilty of updating my facebook status from time to time.
I saw your comment on 20sb bloggers and thought I'd stop by to check out your blog - I really like it!
I signed up for Twitter last fall because a lot of the bloggers I read were using it, but I wasn't really sure what it WAS.
I am far from addicted, sometimes going days without updating. But it's a fabulous procrastination tool and as a law student I'm always on the lookout for more of those ;) So if I'm avoiding outlining or studying, I tend to "tweet" more.
I use it to keep up to date on the happenings of my blog and IRL friends. It's kind of a middle ground - it's things we wouldn't put on Facebook because we don't think that many people care (or we don't want them to know) but that don't particularly warrant a personal text or email.
I also tend to write TOO MUCH so Twitter helps me get rid of the random thoughts that don't deserve the title of "blog post".
Good discussion!
hi lady. i signed up for twitter when it first came out and it was just for laughs. my bf joked that it was a way for him to 'keep tabs on me' throughout the day and i would tweet about crazy absurd things like 'i need to poop' or 'i found a rock in my soup' and then i just stopped tweeting b/c i thought it was dumb.
More recently, I started using it to get more people to read my blog (then i found 20sb!) and at first it was exciting to get an email that someone new is following you on twitter and i have the app on my phone and tweetdeck at work, but seriously it kind of stresses me out b/c i can't keep on top of all these updates and then trying to keep up with the blogs on my reader and fb, it's enough to drive me CRAZY! so i totally feel you even if i do tweet.
I have a Twitter, but don't really quite know why. I'm over it already. I think?
I love Twitter but I respect those who don't want to do it. It's not for everyone :)
Children of the Nineties - I agree, I am curious about the benefits it might have in relation to blogging, but I somehow just can't grasp "following" people just because you're curious about what they are doing at that moment in time...
teasinglydiverse - Thanks for stopping by, I'm glad you like it! I am a total procrastinator so another outlet to slack off is definitely the last thing I need! I am a paralegal student and I actually have to forbid myself from taking my laptop to class because I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to resist surfing the net instead of listening to the lecture. I need to develop some self control!
shansPLC - I definitely feel like 20sb has helped increase my blog readership A LOT, and it's introduced me to some really great bloggers. But do you find that Twitter is a better tool as far as that goes?
Mike - I was over it before I even started... I never could really figure it out!
Bayjb - Thanks for your comment and positive attitude!
I mostly hate it because I think it is killing blogging a little. And because people keep posting about mind-numbingly mundane things.
That being said, I have my blog set up to tell people on twitter when I've updated my blog, so they can come see what mind-numbingly mundane things I am blogging about.
I'm a swirling ball of contradictions and facial stubble.
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