Twitter: The new crack?
June 1st, 2008 | by emontero |According to Patrick Norton on Tekzilla’s latest weekly episode, Twitter is the new crack. Correct me if I’m wrong but, wasn’t Facebook the holder of that title until recently?. Twitter aficionados remind me of Digg’s users, who arguably are the most passionate, and vocal, user base in the industry. Can you honestly say this is not a little bit fanatical?:
I’m eagerly watching Twitter evolve and organize itself. I’m dazzled as third parties are giving Twitter memory and context. But what I care about, and what has value to me, is the tribe of people in my ecosystem. Twitter is the best social network out there; it’s a great social search engine; and it’s a short strategic hop from being a terrific next generation address book.
At any rate, I wholeheartedly disagree with Mr. Norton. Twitter is the new crack for a very small niche in the IT world. Outside that niche, you’d have a hard time discussing the concept for more than 2 minutes without sounding like a total zealot.
Pardon my potential faux pas here, but do we really need Twitter? I just don’t see its real value (even when the site reached worldwide status because of its use and subsequent media coverage). From a technology standpoint, there’s nothing new in it. The idea behind the service itself is interesting, I’ll give you that — and I think it’s because of their KISS approach to posting content. Nevertheless, what can you do with Twitter that you cannot accomplish with a regular blog?
I said it once and I’ll say it again: I think Twitter opens the gate to the too-much-information realm. Do you really need to know what is your favorite author/coder/journalist/person doing at all times? Weird. Kathy herself put it nicely when she asked Is Twitter TOO good?:
I am not in the target audience for Twitter–I am by nature a loner. I don’t want to be that connected. And I also have a huge appreciation for the art of keeping the mystery alive. I don’t want to know that much about so many people, and I sure don’t want people to know that much about me… mundane or otherwise.
In spite of my reservations, the service’s penurious architecture, the myriad difficulties the company has had to endure given their meteoric success (technical or otherwise), the site’s widely covered and highly criticized downtimes; Twitter is, beyond my understanding and against all odds, thriving.
Those hardcore users are indeed special:
Source: PC Weenies
8 Responses to “Twitter: The new crack?”
By tamgo on Apr 11, 2008 | Reply
First of all, I have to register for your site in order to comment?! If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have bothered at all. What do you gain by keeping a DB of users that comment? If your answer has the word ’spam’ in it, then you aren’t being creative enough and/or haven’t done enough research.
On to the topic at hand… The democratization of media has brought good and bad things along with it. We have marveled in the magnificence of a world where anyone can participate. Then we stepped back when we saw how much junk raised to the top. Along with different people, attitudes and topics, you also have different MEDIUMS and STYLES of information distribution.
Writing a 1000+ word blog post, while a good way to express yourself, is not the best for everyone. Especially on the consuming end. Weather it’s good or bad, people have shorter and shorter attention spans. I am surprised people sit through a two hour movie at the theater anymore.
Now, its virtues is that it has so many ways of inputting data, that you can blurb your thoughts at the moment they occur to you. Not whenever you get the time to sit down, write and proof read that blog post. You can be spontaneous, quickly AND you can do it in a one-to-many broadcast fashion. I can’t recall anything else that could let you do that, especially at the scale that twitter is *TRYING* to make work.
In short, is it necessary? No, or course not, but while we are on that subject neither is facebook or youtube. Its a new way to communicate, and it happens that a lot of people that have large audiences are all addicted to it. That gives it a lot of free publicity. Try listening to an episode of Twit without hearing a 20 minute ad for twitter. Even Dvorak is on it! But again, they have large audiences to keep in touch with, this is just another medium to satisfy the same need.
Just think of it this way, it gives you more diversity in the ecosystem, which is rarely a bad thing.
By tamgo on Apr 26, 2008 | Reply
Wait, wait, wait. You are making me ask for an account AND you are moderating as well??!!
Dude, do I need to get you a “blogging for dummies” book or something?
By eburgos on Jun 1, 2008 | Reply
I completely agree with you. do we really need that service?
By Dave Morgan on Jun 2, 2008 | Reply
Sure. We don’t _need_ it… but thats the point. We are able to pick and choose what social networks / software we wish to use. I have a twitter account, and barely ever use it… but that doesn’t mean the crack is bad… just means it isn’t for everyone
By emontero on Jun 2, 2008 | Reply
@Tamgo,
I’m already reviewing Akismet (plugin to dwarf spammers). As soon as I’ve set it up correctly, you won’t have to log in. In the mean time, bear with me!
By eburgos on Jun 3, 2008 | Reply
I think green’s reply totally convinced me. Yeah it’s just another way to express oneself but, to be honest, I don’t need it at all.
By Ivan on Jun 9, 2008 | Reply
@tamgo
What’s that I see? An objective answer from the green?!?!?! The mind reels!!!
I’ll just say I definitely agree with anything that’s been said here about Twitter. But to add a little thought, have you noticed how many of the “internet stars” are using it to boost their fame and audiences, in exchange for a prize? To me, it’s a perfect tool as well for that purpose, while at the same time making their fans feel closer to them. I definitely like getting updates on what Lala from TikiBarTV is doing
By xmonk on Jun 10, 2008 | Reply
So in a few months/years we will have a new career path, CyberPaparazzi’s. How cool.