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I wrote a column a year ago called Trivial Pursuits, in which I complained about the pedantic nature of our social media outlets. My premise was that the content of most posts and tweets was so sophomoric that I worried it would replace, especially among young people, good, constructive dialog.
As I look back year later, I’d like to amend my position a bit. Facebook is a great way for people to connect with old friends and family and update on what’s going on, share photos and all that. It still can be a little sophomoric, and I dearly wish people would stay off politics, but politics are so dominant lately, what can you do? In terms of social interaction, Facebook has certainly improved.
I didn’t know much about Twitter then but I do now because for the last couple of months I’ve been fairly active on it. I’ll start out by saying that it is, surprisingly, incredibly informative. And, on the other hand, I’m already sick and tired of it.
As of today, I follow 73 people/organizations, a large portion of whom are writers or readers or editors, all with an eye towards improving my wordsmithing and making contacts so I can take this writing thing somewhere someday.
I get an average about 60-70 tweets an hour, an average of one per minute, which is too many for me. Some are really informative, but a good number are useless. It takes time to sift through the rubble to find the good ones.
So if you project this to the really active people who follow something like 2,000 individuals and organizations on Twitter, these folks get 120,000 tweets an hour! How can you keep up with that?
The most relevant and interesting tweets are from people who don’t overuse it, who actually have something interesting to say or connect you to. I have learned a heck of a lot from a number of authors on the site, and started a couple of really good dialogs. For that I’m grateful.
I will say that if you select the right people/things to follow, you can get a lot of information first hand; news, sports, entertainment, etc. You just have to watch out for the incessant tweeters.
And Twitter does provide some laughs as well, both good and bad. You can decide which applies in these sample tweets I’ve received recently:
“Many homeowners spend morning cleaning up snow.” -From a Milwaukee TV station after we got our first snow of the year last Friday. Really?
“Protons are 1,836 times larger than electrons. If I were an electron, you’d be 2 miles tall.” -From a supposedly erudite writer and author?
“Dance like nobody’s watching, drink like you’re not down to your last bottle, date like you haven’t googled that wackjob.” -From a really funny single, female writer.
“Any woman who thinks the way to a man’s heart is thru his stomach is aiming a little too high.” -From that same female writer, very perceptive.
“A day without sunshine is like night.” –Brilliant?
“A staggering example of verbal pomposity, the likes of which should be cured before all other pestilence combined.” –I think this writer is a little too erudite.
“I had a mother who read to me.” –I’m sorry, is this unique?
“As I said before, I never repeat myself.” -‘Nuff said.
“Minnesota Braces For Return Of Bachmann’s Full Attention.” –I love the Onion.
“Do you ever notice that when you’re driving, anyone going slower than you is an idiot and everyone driving faster than you is a maniac?” –Bingo.
“I don’t like when people say “be yourself” to everyone. What if “yourself” is a jerk?” –Ouch.
And some of these tweets have more symbols in them than a nuclear scientist, #, @, #, #/#, @, (, ), @, #. You need a code breaker to figure out what somebody is trying to say. And of course you only have 140 characters to say it. Makes my head hurt.
Over two years ago, Paul Farhi wrote a great article in the American Journalism Review in which he said of Twitter: “Does it “work” in any meaningful way — as a news-dissemination channel, a reporting and source-building tool, a promotional platform? Or is it merely, to buy the caricature, just a banal, narcissistic and often addictive time suck?”
I think it’s a little bit of both. If you’re careful about whom you follow and how you use it, it might be beneficial. I’m just afraid it’s way too much work.
Despite all this, you can still follow me on Twitter: @jpalmer7890. I promise it will all be relevant.
