Chirp.

[cathyr19355]

Today, I opened an account on twitter.com.

Why? Because landley and fadethecat have recently done so.

I'm still trying to figure out what the point of twitter is. To my mind, it combines the annoying elements of both blogging and IMing without incorporating the good points of either. So why twitter? To have a mini-blog on your phone? Since I can read and post to my LiveJournal from my Blackberry, I still don't see the point.

But maybe I'll find a use for twitter now that I have an account. So, for now, chirp.

Comments

Re: Out there in the social web...

[pmat.livejournal.com]

I definitely think there's an introvert/extrovert dimension to it, just as there is to who walks down the hallway looking for people to go to lunch with, and even who notices when someone walks down the hall. People vary widely in their ability to screen that kind of chaff as well.

But that's not all of it. I grew up with several siblings and I have four children. I can work or read without difficulty completely surrounded by noise, people and chaos. At the same time, if in the middle of that chaos someone says "Mom", or mentions a rare topic I'm interested in (say, Amtrak), I'll hear it and surface from my book/task to see what's going on. There seems to be an entire subculture growing up which has the same ability to pick what they want out of the electronic noise. I'm definitely not there yet, but I've also definitely observed it.

Re: Out there in the social web...

[cathyr19355.livejournal.com]

I agree with you that there's an introvert/extravert dimension to how people screen information, but I find your anecdotal examples interesting. I have no problem with working around noise and picking out interesting details from it (when I was growing up the TV was on almost 24-7). That's different from deliberately trying to drink from the fire hose that is the Internet every day without making some hard decisions on what you will read, what you *might* read, at least sometimes, and what you won't read because life is too damn short.

Re: Out there in the social web...

[pmat.livejournal.com]

Well, yes, but my point is that you (and I) perceive it as different, but there's a whole growing segment that seems to perceive it as the same, just a different kind of noise to filter. I'm puzzled but fascinated.

Re: Out there in the social web...

[cathyr19355.livejournal.com]

I see your point, but I'm wondering how much of that difference really is generational and how much is simply personal preference.

I can't speak for anybody else, but I have certainly been adopting new information technology. I had never viewed a website before the year 2000, regularly used e-mail before then. Now, I spend several hours a day reading and answering e-mails, and I surf and blog regularly.

Personally, I have very little patience with sorting through recommendations from acquaintances that "you really have to look at this website!" because I perceive reading through enough of the site to figure out whether there's anything there I care about as drudgery. It's not that I *can't* do it, or even that I can't do it fast enough, but doing it isn't effortless or fun; it's work. This is also my problem with IMing; it's work fiddling with typing messages into a Blackberry or phone, but much less work to speak the message into a phone or touch-type it into an e-mail or blog.