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Sunday 25 January 2009

0901.25 I TWEET THEREFORE I AM

There has been a lot of talk recently in the media about the micro-blogging service 'Twitter'. Now I've been tweeting (the term that describes a post) for many years. In fact I remember when I first started it was a lonely place with very few interactions. Over the last year or so the site has come alive and I have made many friends on there, the ability to update using a mobile phone means that you can tweet at any time.

Some celebrities have discovered the service and are now tweeting away. Businesses are looking at it as a way of advertising it's products. It certainly is the time for twitter. What worries me is that some people seem to be focusing on the celebs (I do follow a couple, but fairly passively) and forgetting the message of twitter, which is...

What are you doing?

I hope the explosion of popularity doesn't ruin things, I'd hate to abandon it, it's addictive and fun but can't see it being that way if all people want to do is send messages to the rich and famous.

Twitter has always been seen as a little bit geeky and I like it like that.

7 comments:

Chapman said...

I completely agree. I've followed quite a few of the tech celebs (like Veronica Belmont, Kevin Rose and Patrick Norton) in the past but it got to a point when that's all that was appearing in my feed and was no longer really interested, unfollowed them. I wonder how many peeps signed up to Twitter after @wossy and @stephenfry talked about it on the show, just to follow them though.

PC Plastic Fuzz said...

Agreed!

abooth202 said...

I joined Twitter waaaay back when it was originally mentioned in the tech media, but I never used it - I didn't 'get it'. But, I suppose just over a year ago now, I saw a lot more press about Twitter, and decided to give it a better go. I suppose I'm not one of the original Twitter bunch, but I like to think that I got there when a lot of the more 'tech savvy' people did too - before the average social media types. When I first joined up, I remember Twitter being focused quite heavily on Tech tweets - but then I started following people like you, Kirt and @chapmanmania who lived nearby to me. I dare say that I know quite a lot about some of the people I follow on Twitter and that they know quite a bit about me.

In terms of it's increasing popularity, I'm not too worried because of the whole 'following' procedure. I understand your worries of it being a social networking site on the scale of myspace of facebook - but as long as I stick to my list of 60 or so people to follow, that small-town environment will still apply IMO.
Celebrities on Twitter? Again, I'm a little indifferent on the subject. Personally, I will follow those celebrities that I admire, or respect such as Stephen Fry or Jonathan Ross, but I will never follow people who are on Twitter for advertising/publicity reasons. I think that's the appeal of Fry/Ross - I KNOW that its them tweeting and not their press secretaries.

Anyway, I love Twitter - as you might have guessed, and I will continue to tweet so long as people continue to be interested in what I'm tweeting. Long-live-Twitter!!!

The Famulus said...

I can't get Twitter on my mobile as they don't have an agreement in place with the Dutch telecoms yet.

I like it too, like an SMS broadcast...

MrC said...

Andrew, I take it you don't tweet yoursef with the length of that reply !

Chapman said...

Actually, I've realised that like what Andrew said about selecting who you follow. The people that still don't get Twitter won't really bother us, instead use it as an RSS feed of whatever Fry and Ross are doing, and/or give up and never log in again. It's one thing to sign up, but quite another to 'get' the point of Twitter.

The Captain said...

Possibly my most successful blog entry!

Twitter hasn't crashed and burned as feared, I'm still going to continue my tweets and follow only the people that interest me.