Twitter

[3278]

Earlier today, while using Chrome, I typed "bulldrek" into the address bar [rather than the whole, irritatingly long URL], so I could just Google my way to the site. But up toward the top of the results, I saw Lordhellion had something Twitter-related whose URL contained "Bulldrek." Fascinated - I've never used the Twitter, myself - I clicked on it, and discovered it's a group of Twitter users he created - a thing you can do on the Twitter - all of whom are somehow Bulldrek-related.

And I can't tell you how disappointed I was to see some of your names there. I had no idea so many Bulldrek users had been drawn in - some of you most extensively! - by this insidious counterfeit coin of communication, this icon of thoughtless brevity, this antithesis of verbose expression.

How do you live with yourselves, or more appropriately, what is it you gain from Twitter, what is it you get out of it? I find the whole affair thoroughly bewildering.

[Jeff Hauze]

I don't really understand the Facetweetingspace. Also, I'm too wordy for the four word limit.

[Adam]

Twitter is the social network that you can actually use to make new friends, unlike most other social networks out there.

It's like broadcast instant messaging, with the ability to listen in on other's conversations and jump in if you have something to say. It's like non-persistant IRC with everyone in the world available to talk and listen to.

[DV8]

I find it very hard to make up my mind regarding Twitter. It certainly fulfils a niche demand to be able to broadcast small messages to a large audience, but in essence the technology is no different than, say, LiveJournal. The demand that it caters to right now is one that has been cultivated by them through tweaking and marketing on Twitter's behalf. I am subscribed and I'm not particularly active because I don't think people are very interested in the banalities of my life (though I am at times interested in the banalities of other people's life, like Adam's) and so I'm a lurker. Unless they make it more interesting for me my interest is likely going to wander soon.

One thing I do notice is that it's more impulsive medium, so you generally get a rawer, less censored message than you would get when someone sits down and writes up, say, a blog post. That's appealing.

[3278]

I don't really understand the Facetweetingspace.

Yeah, I gave up on the blog thing when I realized it was producing superficial connections with a broad range of people, rather than deep connections with only a few. That would be fine, but it's just not what I'm interested in. For people who have a large group of acquaintences they enjoy cultivating, and who want to exchange - as Deev says - banalities, social blogging is teh bomba, but for my own purposes, es no bueno.

Also, I'm too wordy for the four word limit.

This is what kills me about Twitter. Facebook, okay, you talk about your day and people can see what kind of day you're having. More general personal blogs, you can write about your adventures or what you're thinking, or political tirades or philosophical issues, and people who care about what you have to say about those things can read it and even reply a little. [An argument can be made that this is what I should do, instead of inflicting my thoughts on unwilling forum members.]

But Twitter? It's SMS broadcasting. It's the definition of superficial. I just don't get it.

[Jeff Hauze]

But Twitter? It's SMS broadcasting. It's the definition of superficial. I just don't get it.

See, that's the other thing I don't quite get. I don't have a phone that can handle the mybookingtweetering, and at work I certainly have no access to such. So, I guess I don't get how it's impulsive, since I basically would have no access to it for like 10 to 12 hours a day. And sleeping for at least 6 or 7 out of the remaining 12.

[Adam]

But Twitter? It's SMS broadcasting. It's the definition of superficial. I just don't get it.

It can be superficial. But many friendships start at superficial, accidental, etc. and move on from there. 140 characters can be enough to offer someone some advice, a link to an article that will get them out of a bind, or to point them to someone else that can help them out.

It's a pretty nice "water cooler" for those of us that work from home and have a lot of friends/colleagues that work from home, too.

[3278]

140 characters can be enough to offer someone some advice, a link to an article that will get them out of a bind, or to point them to someone else that can help them out.

Okay, but in that case, what's wrong with e-mail?

[Adam]

I generally don't meet random strangers that share similar interests over email, but I do via Twitter and tracking keywords/hashtags/events of interest.

But, knowing when to say "This doesn't work in 140 chars, what's your email?" is important.

[Kai]

Never did Twitter, its like trying to have a conversation only using a sheet full of acronyms in a roomful of chihuahuas on crack from what I've seen....oddly enough, I'm really digging Buzz though, friends of friends weighing in on topics and such gives a sort of once removed social cross section that's really cool to meet people through.

[DV8]

...oddly enough, I'm really digging Buzz though, friends of friends weighing in on topics and such gives a sort of once removed social cross section that's really cool to meet people through.

Is it done any different than the way Facebook allows that?

[Adam]

Never did Twitter, its like trying to have a conversation only using a sheet full of acronyms in a roomful of chihuahuas on crack from what I've seen

Follow better people, then!

[DV8]

Kevin Spacey and David Letterman on Tweeting. I guess this could very well be Adam vs BroJ on Tweeting.

[3278]

I <3 Kevin Spacey. Best quote goes to Letterman, though, for his closing zinger.

There is a small part of me that worries: what if this means I'm not on the cutting edge, not hip and fresh and young? I used to be the razor, the forefront of every trend and technology that mattered: have I become an "end user," just some guy who trails years behind the curve?

Then I realize what's changed is [aside from my budget] my perception of what matters. I'm in ur woodz, studyin' ur treez. I'm out observing the borders of man and nature, places where man has let go and nature is returning to dominance, abandoned farms, reclaimed gravel pits, old logging sites. Twitter just has no place in that; there's no internet there, it can't be usefully described in 140 characters, and oh yeah, no one else could possibly give a shit about what I have to say on the subject.

So it's not that Twitter is terrible [although an argument can be made that its brevity accelerates the superficializing of experience and communication], or that I'm behind the curve: it's just that some things, like whipped cream and salmon, don't go together. Twitter does not go with me, nor I with it. That makes neither deficient, it simply makes them different.

[Bishop]

Have you ever tried whipped cream & salmon? Fucking food nazi.

[DV8]

That makes neither deficient, it simply makes them different.

~/ Cumbayaaaaa, my Lord, cumbayaaaa... /~

[Jeff Hauze]

I <3 Kevin Spacey. Best quote goes to Letterman, though, for his closing zinger.

So it's not that Twitter is terrible [although an argument can be made that its brevity accelerates the superficializing of experience and communication], or that I'm behind the curve: it's just that some things, like whipped cream and salmon, don't go together. Twitter does not go with me, nor I with it. That makes neither deficient, it simply makes them different.

And that argument should be made. Dave was completely correct. I'm all for "everybody has opinions, and each are valid" philosophy, except when it comes to the Mybookinglinkedbuzzfacingtweets bullshit. It's the dumbing down of experience to tiny bite-sized morsels, like we're not able to handle it any other way. It's part of a larger aspect of the dumbing down of media across the board, because complexity is a bad thing and too hard for the poor public to follow.

In other news, yes, I'm still a grumpy old man, still behind the times, and I'll never probably get this stuff until about five years after its popular. Hell I just got off IE this year, so don't listen to a damn word I have to say. But feel free to read about it in my never updated blog!

[3278]

[quote="Jeff Hauze"And that argument should be made. Dave was completely correct. I'm all for "everybody has opinions, and each are valid" philosophy, except when it comes to the Mybookinglinkedbuzzfacingtweets bullshit.[/quote]
Twitter, maybe - although you could argue that constant interconnection possesses utility, as well - but there's nothing about Facebook or MySpace that inevitably leads to "the dumbing down of experience to tiny bite-sized morsels." You can write a novel on MySpace, if you want, and that's a pretty big bite.

Something I try to keep in mind is that the status quo today is very different from what it once was. None of us are lamenting that we can't memorize an entire book, or do complex math in our heads, but technology has removed those abilities from us. In their place, we have other aspects of utility, like increase multitasking abilities. So I try to remember that today is different from yesterday, and tomorrow will be more different yet, without placing value judgments on any period.

Still hate Twitter, but I guess that's just my own bias, not anything objective.

[Jeff Hauze]

Sorry Module. I forgot to do the smilie thing, and also forgot your sarcasm meter is busted. Paying close attention to my last line, I'm pretty much implying I'm full of shit.

Also, don't be a flaming queen. Quit defending Mybook.

[Kai]

For the very brief time I was on Facebook, I found it retardedly hard to navigate, full of game spam, and ultimately really damn difficult to only make it show actual content as opposed to who became a fan of what. So I don't really know if its different, I just know that it feels much more circle of friends, the few who have your address, and the few of their friends that have thiers. Rather than going out and randomly reading the Buzzes of people based on their internet popularity and how many other people are following them, its just the people you know, and anyone who is reading the things you are posting has to link back to you in some way, they didn't just wander across it.

Definitely a much, much higher signal to noise ratio.

[3278]

I really wish someone would sell me on this - it's been tempting for a long time - but to be honest, the character limit on /Facebook/ has been killing me lately, requiring I write a Note [instead of a Status] just to explain why Aristotle was a douchebag. Okay, you could say, Facebook isn't /for/ explaining why Aristotle was a douchebag, and Twitter sure as hell isn't, but the alternative is a blog, and there isn't a blog with a social network as broad as Twitter or Facebook.

Which says something, doesn't it? The popular services are the ones that force brevity to the point that nothing of consequence - or complexity, at any rate - can be shared.

I guess I'll keep on writing Notes on Facebook, but there's genuinely something tempting about Twitter. Still, I don't think anyone would "follow" me when all my Tweets would be, "Saw four deer crossing the meadow at Lamoreaux," or, "Interesting abandoned retaining wall in Flat River State Game Area," or, "Am now looking at trees. ZOMG!"

Or maybe I'll start a blog to go with my Picasa album, but I have only one "fan" on Picasa, so I'd pretty much just be writing to myself!

[Salvation122]

Facebook apparently has gargantuan issues with space. I know the guy who sells them their servers, and evidently they order petabyte arrays like they're candy.

Now, granted, text isn't really the issue here so much as pictures. But imposing (very reasonable - I don't think I've ever hit character limits on statuses) makes sense as an admittedly feeble space-saving measure.

[3278]

Now, granted, text isn't really the issue here so much as pictures. But imposing (very reasonable - I don't think I've ever hit character limits on statuses) makes sense as an admittedly feeble space-saving measure.

I hit the character limit in status updates literally almost every day. It's, like, 450 characters. That's a lot more than some other bullshit microblogs, but...450? Assholes.

And 450 bytes? That's, like, the EXIF header on an image. It's a rounding error. I can't imagine the limit is based on server storage space, but I definitely don't know that for sure.

[3278]

[edit]You know what? I think I won't.[/edit]

[Bishop]

What did you say, Earl?

[3278]

Surprisingly, nothing I'd want to take back. It's just that I was this close to joining Twitter, but two things stopped me: a) someone else already has the name 3278, and, b) it's not that I enjoy Beethoven's Ninth simply because it's longer than Hit Me Baby One More Time, but it nevertheless remains true that Beethoven's Ninth would be unacceptably impoverished if it were shortened to four minutes. Length by itself is no asset; four hundred pages of bullshit is still bullshit, and if I had a 12 inch dick, it would still just be 3278's dick. But I can't speak with intelligence in 140 characters, just like I'd have a hard time fucking if my dick were only an inch long, no matter how awesome I am at fucking.

[DV8]

Now that we have a bit more traffic, anyone want to shoutout their usernames on twitter? I'm @thatdv8.

[Bishop]

Don't have a twitter account (page/blog/whathaveyou). But then again, I use a prepaid tracfone, which does not have internet capabilities. And even if I did, I couldn't see myself posting every 15 minutes on what I was doing.

[Serious Paul]

For those of you that do use twitter what are experiences with it? I often hear a lot about the various social consequences of real time communication, often mentioning Twitter specifically, but is that your experience? Do you find Twitter to be a social entertainment tool? Or is it more?

[Pdyx]

@pdyx

I'm not a huge Twitter user, but at first I was skeptical and just used it as a joke. I signed up when it first started and people weren't quite sure what it was for. Now I understand it much better, but I still don't use it a ton.

[Crazy Elf]

Earlier today, while using Chrome, I typed "bulldrek" into the address bar [rather than the whole, irritatingly long URL], so I could just G

Dude, that's about where my attention span wanders. Can you perhaps paraphrase your argument to 140 characters?

[DV8]

Good to see you're back online, Elf.

[Crazy Elf]

Good to be back, actually. I've missed being able to write. And now I get all more porn right away rather than waiting hours for it, which is a lifestyle changer.

[WillyGilligan]

"I think those pixels are resolving to a nipple. Or maybe it's bacne. I've been waiting so long I don't even care anymore. Score!"