Comments on: Is Twitter the new Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep?

By: THUS - because it does not have to be that way

THUS - because it does not have to be that way — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 16:51:25 +0000

[...] and constant repetitive exposure to loud music – may we suggest ‘Things Can only Get Better? (Thus passim) – we won’t need any high fallutin’ experts to tell us who did what and when. After [...]

By: John Kelly

John Kelly — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 16:01:51 +0000

Dear jane

I agree, I suppose, but it’s my job to be a cynic and I’m notoriously short of patience, so I suppose i’ll never be a star twitterer. Love JJK

By: Adam Keats

Adam Keats — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 13:34:42 +0000

Completely agree John. Never got it. I’m also a member and have a completely blank wall. 38 people have however decided to follow me and await my first move. The site seems to be made of two different parties. (1) Influential people who use it as a way of posting messages to a large fan base (for this I agree it is a good medium of communication) and (2) Un-influential people who have yet to find another way to get heard.

By: Jane Wells

Jane Wells — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 01:48:06 +0000

well I like the illusion that following those who are far greater will somehow be illuminating: happy to know that Pierre Omidyar wants to get the Economist on his Kindle 2 and fantasizing that maybe I can help deliver that to him. JJK the trick is to follow and then you will be followed – patience and a lack of cynicism might help

By: Daniel Taghioff

Daniel Taghioff — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 05:50:20 +0000

Small field report of my time on Twitter (I am supposed to be a media ethnographer of sorts…)

Twitter is described by its users as the “crack cockaine” of social networking. I think they are referring to the short high, heavy comedown and the need to keep repeating the experience.

15 Seconds of fame is an eternity on Twitter, it is the one liner taken as an olympic event. It is strangely compelling, you desperately want to stay in the game, and I find myself peeking at my Twitterfox (part of my firefox browser now) to see if anyone has sent me a message, or if I have more followers (800ish following me so far, sadly the thousands are those that I follow, but still not at all bad in a week.)

There seem to be 2 things that matter in terms of attracting interest on Twitter, one is the witty one liner, and the other is links to interesting and original content, so there is a sort of symbiosis with this mag.

It is a horrific distraction though, and I have a few friends who are already post-twitter (though on Skype and Facebook and probably IM, so only marginally less hyper-connected.) The really odd bit is when you start to integrate twitter and all your other social networking stuff, Ping FM lets you do this.

Then you can say things like: Hey, I want feedback on the new format, and it goes out to your Facebook, Linked In, MySpace etc… So it is indeed like a big calling card, and nobody really knows why they are telling you this, but swimming in anomie is a large part of the fun…

By: John Kelly

John Kelly — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 19:19:59 +0000

I agree. Someone recently said that US productivity might treble if Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and EBay went offline for a week. But I have to own up as one of the ‘army of bloggers’ myself. The difference is that I do it on my own time and money. And bloggers as a breed are distinct from Tweeters, in that to a greater or lesser extent, they try to address issues that they believe matter. Not so sure about the majority of Twitter content – for starters you are restricted to 146 characters and the aim is to say whatever comes into your head. Thus internet grafitti. Best, John

By: Jim Hare

Jim Hare — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 19:04:23 +0000

The first question that comes to me is where do all these people get the time to do whatever they are doing on-line. Maybe that is the point – some people may have a lot more time on their hands. I am constantly amazed at the amount of time that must be expended by the armies of bloggers providing their insight for the world at large on any subject you can name. I would be interested to know what they do in their real lives, and how they have the time to sit on line all day. Or are they doing it as they sit at their desks in the finance houses wasting our time and money and still earning a bonus?

By: Grace Hilliar

Grace Hilliar — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 17:18:28 +0000

You know what I thought as I was reading that …. it’s a trick! a very simple way of catching and identifying twits. A Chitty Chitty Bang bang like …Twit Catcher. With all the sticky sugary mind rotting tools and games that attract class A twits. I mean, who wants anyone to know what they are doing at this or that moment! You have to be so bored and delusional as to imagine that anyone else would give a hoot or a twit as to what you are doing – unless they are some odd ball stalker sort, or wierdo ex friend .. boyfriend.. Yep..it’s a twit catcher for sure!

Facebook was so new that it had a novilty and curiosity thing going for it and so some non twits may have filtered through the net. But after a few months most non twits will have dropped Face book. But Twittier should attract a really pure catch. And then all the twits can be tagged or destroyed. I had, in the past, a rather large collection of twits, but with less money and time I have had to let my collection go. Cut backs.

By: Pascal Finette

Pascal Finette — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 10:50:54 +0000

AMAZING piece!
And to put it into the right frame – I just twittered about it!

By: Jon Taylor

Jon Taylor — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 08:32:04 +0000

Twitter: Who is it for? There’s a clue in the name.