I really didn’t expect Twitter to get as big as it has when I initially signed up almost a year and a half ago. I’ve only made 6 “tweets” since then and never really got the gist of this social networking gem. Of course now after seeing how fast it’s grown, I can understand how this social phenom has reeled people in.
So what is Twitter? Well if you’ve been living under a rock, Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service created by Jack Dorsey. Twitter asks this simple question: “What are you doing?” By responding with a 140 character limit text response (which can be sent from your cell phone, instant messaging or the web), users are able to connect to other people (followers) and basically let everyone know (or read all about) the mundane actions of their daily lives.
Sounds fun, huh? I didn’t realize that so many people were voyeurs in a sense, or enjoyed being exhibitionists (although I have been guilty of a few status updates on Facebook). Which brings me to this hilarious video my friend showed me on YouTube, from “Super News!” on current.com (hilarious site… be sure to check it out). “Twouble with Twitters” pokes fun at all the Twitters out there and makes wonder if this is truly how our generation (e.g. the 20-somethings) communicates now: “By detached, bite-sized, yippity-yap”. And brings up a point: what ever happened to picking up the phone and calling your friends, instead of just randomly shouting what you’re doing into the “darkness” hoping that someone’s listening?
Hopefully I haven’t summoned the Fail Whale (then again, maybe that would be a good thing). That Twitter bird with it’s blank eyes and hypnotic voice is kind of freaky…
But I wanna tweet w/ u….
The amount of social networking sites in operation these days fascinates me (btw, I’m only talking about those popular mentioned in an issue of Time mag – facebook, friendster, twitter, myspace etc.). What fascinates me even more is how many “20 something’s” are immensely dedicated to these sites and how they treat the up-keep like a daily ritual. What’s boggling, is how one can manage school, work and real life with all this distraction. I know from personal experience, when I’m on facebook, flickr and/or twitter, I can easily spend hours at a time roaming…