Twitterpated

Only the elders will remember what it means to be twitterpated. (Here's a hint: remember Thumper?) The word can be adapted for the younger crowd who have developed an attachment to Twitter.

Message boards with Twitter messages were playing in all the hallways at SXSW Interactive, and some folks were even tracking their friends with Twitter on their phones. I heard things in the hallways from people clutching their phones such as, "His plane just landed." or, "Oh, they're eating lunch at PF Chang." My attitude is "so what?" Here's what a few others say about Twitter.

Tara Hunt says,

Iâ€™m not trying to say that Iâ€™m uber cool â€™cause I was part of Twitter before others are, but I would like to stand up for the service in the face of the multitude of naysayers and hype machines that appear hell-bent on taking it down before understanding why it has become so popular in the first place. Those of you who are arriving here now are experiencing a very different Twitter than the Twttr I fell in love with ages ago.

and explains why she likes Twitter in detail.

Kathy Sierra explains why it might be fooling your brain.

Twitter scares me. For all its popularity, I see at least three issues: 1) it's a near-perfect example of the psychological principle of intermittent variable reward, the key addictive element of slot machines. 2) The strong "feeling of connectedness" Twitterers get can trick the brain into thinking its having a meaningful social interaction, while another (ancient) part of the brain "knows" something crucial to human survival is missing. 3) Twitter is yet another--potentially more dramatic--contribution to the problems of always-on multi-tasking... you can't be Twittering (or emailing or chatting, of course) and simultaneously be in deep thought and/or a flow state.

Anne Zelenka says it is useful professionally.

For those of you who still wonder whether itâ€™s anything more than inane stream-of-consciousness, consider these ways in which Twitter can help you professionally.

Jeneane Sessum gives a time line of her off-again on-again relationship with Twittter.

And you've gotta love Shelly Powers, who says,

Twitter is the big thing coming out of SxSW. My god people. Might as well run a magnet across your synapses.

So. Are you twitterpated?

Submitted by Virginia DeBolt (view blog

) on Sat, 03/17/2007 - 08:50

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Interesting post

I've been hearing about Twitter recently, but I hadn't taken the time to check out their site and see what it was all about until I read your post. It's not something I see myself using at this point in time, but I can understand why other people would find it useful.

Personal blog: Keep Up With Me
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Submitted by Zandria on Sat, 03/17/2007 - 07:08

untwittered

Honestly, I don't get it.

Okay, so I'm reading Twitter's help page, and it looks like a way to tell the world you're doing the laundry. Or eating. Or checking the dog for fleas. I still don't get it. I'm really not trying to be sarcastic here, but is there a conversation (or possibly hundreds) that I'm not following and it would all make sense, or is it really just a bunch of people posting the minutiae of their daily lives?

Five Dollar Camera

Submitted by kperfetto on Sun, 03/18/2007 - 09:01

Kperfetto, let's call it Fritter

...it is indeed minutiae personified. And so...amazingly...addictive to the people who get into it.

As a media geek, I find it anthropologically fascinating. For myself? I have not allowed myself to plug in, but I can confirm that living with someone who IS may end my willingness to continue typing. I'm having the reaction of a Luddite; I keep threatening to take my sharpened quill pens and papyrus out to a handmade hutch in the backyard. With much eyerolling and sarcasm. :)

Seriously, I respect everyone else's interest but I say to myself, this is progress?! I cannot allow myself to go there.

I suggest a new name: Fritter. Or perhaps Fritterer....

Lisa Stone
BlogHer Co-founder
Surfette

Submitted by Lisa Stone on Sun, 03/18/2007 - 09:52

To be fair to Twitter

To be fair to Twitter, I should point out that you can limit your twittering to people you are actually interested in. It can be rather like only subscribing to the feeds of the blogs you are actually interested in. In the post I quoted Anne Z, who says it helps her keep track of people in her work group.

http://www.webteacher.ws/
http://first50.wordpress.com/

Submitted by Virginia DeBolt on Sun, 03/18/2007 - 13:22

This taps into my time-impoverishment
migraine

Oh Virginia, I think you are being fair, absolutely. And I love the posts you link.

What I don't love - -and this is not Twitter's fault -- is the fact that I feel caught in a reactive loop in technology. I don't have time to proactively pursue the communications I want to have anymore, I'm so busy reacting to pings that come in. To me, is one more electronic item on my to-do list. And this camel's back is already creaking.

Enough whining! Umm....back to email... :)

Lisa Stone
BlogHer Co-founder
Surfette

Submitted by Lisa Stone on Sun, 03/18/2007 - 16:39

Closer to the Borg

Thank you for educating me. I saw something about Twitter yesterday and wondered what it was, but didn't stop to find out. Perhaps that's a sign of my technology overload. Everytime we turn around somebody's got some a new piece of software or some new human behavioral phenomenon's manifested because of technology.

This Twitter thing makes me think of Star Trek and the Borg. It seems if some folks had the option to have their brains linked to other humans they would so they could know even the most banal yet intimate details like "I'm sitting on the toilet now."

It also reminds me of young teenage girls who don't have a clear identity yet so they cling to their friends through marathon telephone conversations that after a time are only series taps and volleys like, "What'cha doing?"

"I'm chewing gum."

Human evolution via machines. :-)

Ha! I'm gonna blog this at my spot. Cool information, Virginia.

"Love is liquid. Brew and be drunkards!" ~~Nordette And here's a link to the blog.

Submitted by Nordette on Sun, 03/18/2007 - 09:54

John Edwards Twitters...

I checked out Twitter last summer? fall?? and didn't see the point. Maybe because I didn't connect to anyone there, so who really cares if someone is eating a great dinner, watching a bad movie or hates their job at the moment?

I'd care a lot if I were doing anthropological research on the modern age.. but really? it's time wasting.

Went back yesterday to check it after your post, and was surprised to see that John Edwards is signed into twitter and letting us know what's up to (or, rather, I suspect he has "flunkies" twittering for him). Does it change or alter any aspect of his campaign? I'm not sure.

However, it does make it easier for citizen journalists to know what he's up to.

Debra
A Stitch In Time
Deb's Daily Distractions

Submitted by debra roby on Sun, 03/18/2007 - 10:04