Media Meditation 2 Twitter

Ah, Twitter. Nothing to me seems to exemplify the new world of the web than Twitter. I originally mocked it. I felt no need to know what my friends are up to 24/7. After all, I reasoned, nothing that they wouldn't say in person to me was important enough for me to know about. I didn't care about the TV show they had just watched. I offered cared little for their highly elucidated 140 character post about the last episode of Lost (which I never got into either). Now however, I recognize the value of it. Not even for my friends really, for Facebook provides an easier way to keep track there. No, I value it for something else entirely. Twitter lets me keep up with people like musicians in a way that facebook statuses don't.

With twitter, it is easy to be connected all the time. This is what it is designed for. The character limit also keeps posts brief and interesting (usually). In this way, it is much better than Facebook. If I simply want to keep tags on an organization, it is much better, and it doesn't clog up my Facebook with pointless status updates that I don't really care about. If I just want to hear important news, I can follow on twitter. Then I don't get notifications anytime anything happens as I would on Facebook. Thats the beauty. Twitter is only two way if you want it to be. If you want to create a twitter account simply to broadcast your bands tour dates and other information you can. You don't need any contact with the people that are following you. In this way, there is none of the intimacy that other social networks bring. No need to share your whole life with someone just because you think that their updates are funny.

It's fair to say that I've been converted. I also find the character limit interesting. It forces people to share only things that are actually important, rather than the quite pointless drivel that barrages my Facebook everyday. In today's media world, it is certainly a useful ability to write only the important anyway. If I have alot to say, I can link to my blog. Having a twitter trains me to get rid of the ballast in my posts.