Twitter

[davywavy]

The last decade or so has seen a sudden and remarkable explosion in the number of ways that people can communicate with each other without actually interacting on a personal level. I've long been convinced that the internet is largely an unhealthy medium of communication as it encourages both immediate positive reinforcement of negative behaviours ("Oh, I'm so unhappy!" *Hugs*), and self-selection of social groupings to avoid disagreement or conflict. As a rule I'm a bigger fan of interacting with people either in person or at least telephonically than by e-, and the only reason I keep an LJ these days is because I'm a frustrated standup comedian and this is a surrogate stage.
Overall, I prefer blogorrhoea to any of the other major social networking methods such as facebook or myspace as at least it encourages length and consideration in writing; the shorter the messaging space and the message contained therein, the less information is contained and the less encouragement of creativity and thought. And that brings me onto Twitter, which seems to have taken off in a big way recently. For those of you who don't know, Twitter is an instant messaging based system that allows you to update people with answers to the question "What are you doing now?" in 140 characters or less.
In short, my opinion of Twitter is this: if it is possible to summarise your life in 140 characters or less, then it is very probable that your life contains nothing worth reading about*.
Admittedly, that's not an absolute rule; if Barack Obama's next twitter was I'm just typing the launch codes into the football now then that'd at least be interesting and it'd give us time to start slapping on the factor fifty but as a general rule the less information the message contains and the more frequently it is repeated, the less interesting it is.

Psychologist Oliver James (who is, it must be admitted, something of a lefty and often writes for the Guardian so it is unwise to put much trust into anything he says) makes the point that "Twittering stems from a lack of identity. It’s a constant update of who you are, what you are, where you are. Nobody would Twitter if they had a strong sense of identity."
“We are the most narcissistic age ever,” agrees Dr David Lewis, a cognitive neuropsychologist and director of research at the University of Sussex. “Using Twitter suggests a level of insecurity whereby, unless people recognise you, you cease to exist. It may stave off insecurity in the short term, but it won’t cure it.”
For Alain de Botton, author of Status Anxiety and the forthcoming The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work, Twitter represents “a way of making sure you are permanently connected to somebody and somebody is permanently connected to you, proving that you are alive. It’s like when a parent goes into a child’s room to check the child is still breathing. It is a giant baby monitor.”

Not only all of that, but it's really not very interesting to read a short sentence about what you've been up to for the last five minutes. Rather than continuing to criticise, though, I'd instead set a challenge to all the people using Twitter out there - take a few days off from it and use the time you'd normally spend writing and reading Twitter to compose a short story or a longer blog post that actually says something. Not only will it be more interesting to read, but I suspect it will be more interesting for you to write.

^{*My summary of twitter is very nearly of twitter length itself, containing 145 characters. I find this fact rather pleasing.}

Comments

[zenicurean.livejournal.com]

"We are the most narcissistic age ever," agrees Dr David Lewis, a cognitive neuropsychologist.

What, again? My my. I have to say, our societies must be pretty narcissistic by now, seeing as everyone and their goldfish has been complaining about their age being the most narcissistic ever for approximately five hundred years now.

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

Could it be that we are getting more narcissistic all the time? Or that we look on periods in history with narcissistic-tinted glasses? Or a bit of both?

[http://users.livejournal.com/_grimtales_/]

I disagree, I wasn't convinced for similar reasons until I took it up but a lot of the things I observe or think of in the course of a day just aren't blog length.
Restrictive media can be inspiring and also good discipline, think of the six word stories or the 'Brians' - 50 word fictlets.
Twitter has its place IMO and I also fundamentally disagree with the scaremongering about e-communication. It has broadened and increased people's capacity to interact and lessened it, as well as decreasing strictures on the written word that have prevented clear transmission of intent and emotion.
I do agree that streaming your social circle to only yes men is a big issue though.

Less than 140 characters :)

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

Well put. You do have a knack for putting people's thoughts into eloquent words, bravo. :)

[zenicurean.livejournal.com]

If we are, then we're approaching the pinnacle of partying here. Marie Antoinette, eat your heart out.

[silver-blue.livejournal.com]

"Twitter is an instant messaging based system that allows you to update people with answers to the question "What are you doing now?" in 140 characters or less."

I think this is a mistaken interpretation of what Twitter can be and is used for.

When it is used for just updates on "What are you doing now?" then I agree, it can be quite dull.

When it's used to spread breaking news, to ask questions, to provoke a debate on a specific statement, to draw people's attention to an interesting link on the internet, to provide live updates of a speech or event, then it's far more powerful

[(Anonymous)]

Some websites are mutual backslapping sessions it's true, but, provided the host has a fairly relaxed attitude to comment posting, you can certainly get conflict and disagreement on the internet, some of it providing a high standard of entertainment - check out the Guardian's "Comment is Free" comments the day that Polly Toynbee posts her column. I can only assume she doesn't read them.

H

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

You're correct that it can be useful as a breaking news medium, for example. However, in the main, this is not what it is used for. I have the BBC ticker on my desktop which provides a rolling breaking news headlines window on my screen and that's handy.
However, I can't see any value in a rolling breaking David news ticker, which is what Twitter is for the vast majority of users:
...David is walking the dog...david needs the toilet...David thinks that chocolate is cool...

See? Utterly bloody worthless, as is much of the twitter content.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

I think that a good indicator of the degree in narcissism of a person (or a culture) is the number of mirrors it uses to admire itself. Twitter is not only yet another mirror (as well as facebook and myspaces etc &c), but it's one which demands constant attention.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

a lot of the things I observe or think of in the course of a day just aren't blog length.

Yes, that's true of absolutely everyone in the world ever. However I think there's no need to share anyone's kaleidoscope of daily thoughts and experiences with the world except as, as noted above, a mirror to prove to oneself that one still exists.
Twitter isn't for other people, it's for you. If something isn't worth making any effort whatsoever to communicate, then it probably isn't worth communicating it in the first place.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_grimtales_/]

But then people are making the effort. Which is where the argument falls down.

[silver-blue.livejournal.com]

That kind of stuff is.

In fact I've argued in the past that Twitter might find it tough to move forward from the social networking/techie group, at least in any long term manner. By this I mean bloggers, social media marketers, etc, because from that group Twitter becomes a useful addition to their general stream - usually consolidated via Friendfeed. That's the kind of breaking news that doesn't come up on a BBC ticker, alerts to online articles/blog posts that wouldn't otherwise be obvious.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

You're quite right - I should have used the word 'thought', or possibily 'creative thought' rather than 'effort', as twiddling the keys of a mobile phone involves some tiny effort.
As such, I'll adapt my phraseology: The value of an idea is - in the vast majority of cases - related to the amount of thought which underlies it. Immediate messaging of updates - in the vast majority of cases - is an impulse action rather than a thoughtful one. I think that words my objection rather better. I just hadn't put much thought into the wording last time :)

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

I'll argue that Twitter is doomed not because of the inherent uselessness of it's content, but because it is proving impossible to monetarise the audience.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_grimtales_/]

If it were limited to 'I am pooping now. Now I am wiping my arse.' comments I might agree with you but for a lot of people it isn't. Sturgeon's Law applies, 90% of anything is crap, be it Twitter, phone conversations or blog posts. 10% however, isn't.

[scarletdemon.livejournal.com]

Amen. All this online stuff is showing off and begging for attention/validation to some extent, at least it is for me. I've made friends via LJ and that's a good thing...But Twitter looks like the saddest thing ever. God almighty, people should write or NOT. If it isn't worth making an effort for, why bother?

[zenicurean.livejournal.com]

The advance of technology suggests increase in these numbers; might it not then imply the advance of narcissism? "The ancients would've Twittered, had they had something to Twitter with" or somesuch. And you don't have to take my word for it. There are entire genres of art basically dedicated to complaining about this.

I am a tweeting twit!

[blue-cat.livejournal.com]

Individual tweets are often hopelessly mundane and boring. So are most LJ's :) Why bother with LJ? or any selection of blogs?

Extend that to Twitter, then add in a smattering of RSS feeds that are twittered and there you have an explaination.

If you don't like it, find it boring *shrug* fine. I enjoy the 'slice of life as it happens' as well as following a lot of tech people and newsy tweeters / Twits :)

Or take a (specifically chosen) example: a tweet saying "Guess what? I'm wearing mascara. On my eyelashes." is, out of context, mind-numbingly irrelivent, until you realise it is a tweet from Lisa, who has been blogging her fight with breast cancer here at alrighttit (http://alrighttit.blogspot.com/) and that having eyelashes (post-chemo hair loss) is a big deal!

[silver-blue.livejournal.com]

Widespread problem for a lot of the popular social networking services.

[(Anonymous)]

"The value of an idea is .. related to the amount of thought which underlies it."

How true...

There's a line from Newton in one of your "how the universe works" books - that when asked how he discovered the universal law of gravitation he said "By thinking on it continually." And isn't Einstein supposed to have spent ten years working in private on his theory of relativity, before summing it up in three pages?

In some ways I think the rapid expansion in communication tech has actually proved a blessing, say in regard to the liquidity of markets, but you're right, on a personal level it does discourage profound reflection to some extent. So much easier, in the age of rapid communication, just to come back with a glib one line response.

H

[(Anonymous)]

However lengthy and prolonged reflection on the imponderables of life can lead to a complete paralysis of the Will (don't say "liberalism"). Perhaps twitter is simply Carpe Diem taken to its inevitable conclusion?
D

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Omg your right lol.

[glummdead.livejournal.com]

It's not the length etc etc.

Apologies if I've just ripped off someone else's scthick.

[(Anonymous)]

Stop it at once.

[raggedhalo.livejournal.com]

*moral panic*

It's not like the olden days.

[raggedhalo.livejournal.com]

He's formulating a hypothesis. Scientists do that a lot. It's kinda their job.

In fact, he's subtly demonstrating the ridiculousness of twitter by not saying anything meaningful and doing so without the proper rigour.

[zenicurean.livejournal.com]

What more, the nouveau riche folks these days have no taste. They've been pouring society down the drain since that story about that Trimalchio fellow. Ah, but if it were like in the old days...

[vulgarcriminal.livejournal.com]

You can't just generalise like that,

This is one of my all time favorite statements that everyone says at least once. Not to generalize.

Late to this PARTY

[vulgarcriminal.livejournal.com]

I use Twitter as a kind of notepad/messaging/news system.

I have a problem with concise thought/sentences, so the 140 character limit is really helpful.

And it's pretty valuable as a networking tool as Robin mentioned above. Which isn't my priority but it helps when trying to Make New Friends.

And I also completely support your views on LJ, blogging and the Internet in general. False intimacy. But, when you're setting up in a new city and most of your old friends have fucked off, you take what you can get in the mean time, right?

[vulgarcriminal.livejournal.com]

*sigh* It was funny.

[grimmjizzle.livejournal.com]

I have a twitter myself, but I do think it's stupid how people go "is taking a piss" "is sitting at home" "is sleeping off a hangover" "is blahablahablhablah" I honestly use my twitter just to do sporadic updates, to let people I know on twitter know what i'm doing now, then and later. I never really understood people's obsession with telling people options that they have over dinner.