I feel like an old man -- Twitter? Facebook friends with celebrities ??

[Matthew_S]

Can someone explain the point of Twitter to me?   Or rather, is it without point for me as I do not own a cell phone and am happy not always "being in touch".

It seems an ideal cellphone application (simple, short) but an odd one to access via actual computer...  I think I am just missing something vital to its appeal.


Related only in the sense that it also makes me feel ancient+out of touch...

why would I friend a 'celebrity' via facebook?  it serves as advertising for them, OK and ... ?

I hope this does not sound bitter or awful ; that is certainly not the intent.    And if this has been discussed here or on the show, well, I missed that too...

[erechoveraker]

Can someone explain the point of Twitter to me?   Or rather, is it without point for me as I do not own a cell phone and am happy not always "being in touch".

It seems an ideal cellphone application (simple, short) but an odd one to access via actual computer...  I think I am just missing something vital to its appeal.


Related only in the sense that it also makes me feel ancient+out of touch...

why would I friend a 'celebrity' via facebook?  it serves as advertising for them, OK and ... ?

I hope this does not sound bitter or awful ; that is certainly not the intent.    And if this has been discussed here or on the show, well, I missed that too...

You can access it via your phone etc though, and I think many people do. I have mine linked to my Facebook too, so I kill several pretend social stones at once with it.

140 characters is the perfect level of relationship I am willing to give most people now, so I loves it.

[cutout]

Can someone explain the point of Twitter to me?

It's basically texting, but public. I use it to ask questions of other web designers and vice versa. This could be done via email, but this way, it's public, and other web designers benefit (presumably) from the exchange, plus it feels "live". Other than linking to content and asking/answering questions, I doubt I'd have any use for it, as none of my normal/non-webgeek friends care about it and (rightfully) consider it kind of a waste of time. Once you're over the age of 20, unless you live in a dense urban area and are constantly on the go, there doesn't seem to be a good reason you'd ever need to keep everyone abreast of your every thought/move. And yet, people do it.

[Regular Joe]

What I like to do is create miniature cardboard stand-ups of all my twitter friends, then read their tweets aloud like a little play that I film with my cell phone. I know it's unorthodox, but what else am I supposed to do with web 2.0.

[Come on, Jason]

People too shy to Facebook famous people are missing out on some big fun.  Jon Wurster, for example, has easily the funniest Facebook page in the world. (He's the conga player for Supertramp.)

[Sarah]

I think it's dumb, but then I'm old, ornery, and antisocial.

[Fido]

I think it's dumb, but then I'm old, ornery, and antisocial.

I react pretty much the same way, because I too am old, ornery and antisocial. But for the same reason that I like to stay on speaking terms with distant, right-wing fundamentalist Christian relatives (I'm curious as to what I will see or hear), I like to participate in silly things like Twitter. I just have to see what all the fuss is about. Usually, I become dismayed at how interesting I find the latest silly little social networking trend. I've even gone so far as to post on my Facebook page what I am indeed doing at that moment, like "Chris is making squirrel tacos! Yum! You can come on over anytime, Sarah!". When I wall myself off from the zeitgeist altogether, I think that's when my trouble will begin. I don't know that this is right or wrong.

[yesno]

My usual routine is to sign up for all these things early on (my very first Twitter account was in 2007!  eons ago!  It lasted 1 day) and then delete my account.  Then I do that a couple of more times.

I don't know, I enjoy this and a few other messageboards but I just don't get much out of social networking sites generally.  They're good at filling down time, and they're addictive, but those are bad things.  I should be working.  If I want to socialize I should do it with "meat men" or "walkies" (real people).

There's also an aspect to using them of peacocking ("look how funny/unique/interesting I am") which is kind of fun but which turns me off when I find myself doing it.  It's like a new version of being the class clown or drawing band logos on your textbook cover.

People in my law school communicate pretty much exclusively through Facebook, so it's not like I have an option to not be on some of these things at all.  I am also writing a paper for a conference about some privacy/information control aspects of social networking. I believe I shall omit my belief that all this crap is mostly a waste of time, though sometimes a fun one.

[Andy]

facebook is fading fast and I can't get on board with twittering.  I knew facebook was done when they were talking about it on the today show.  plus, notes have turned into bulletins and it's just like myspace now.

[erechoveraker]

plus, notes have turned into bulletins and it's just like myspace now.

This.

All the people who got me off myspace onto facebook who said they couldn't take all the inanity of myspace are suddenly tagging me on facebook with "25 things about you" bulletins, err I mean notes. Next time I get one, I'm just gonna reply with pics of goatse or something, and let the housecleaning take care of itself.

[yesno]

We'll see if FB and Twitter can keep growing forever without making a profit.  Successful internet "communities" (what a misuse of the word) tend to be labors of love pushed by volunteers.  I don't think many people would want to volunteer for an enterprise whose guiding purpose is mining people's personal lives for marketing information.

[Martin]

You're right, Facebook is exactly like MySpace. Honestly, I can't tell the difference between the two.

[DoodleJump!]

so is Twitter supposed to be like a chat? Or just a continual status update? Because I just got a Twitter and I feel guilty for "replying" to someone else' because I get this weird fear that I'm annoying them. And I would like to talk to them, but am not sure if that is what Twitter is "meant" for. I have a feeling that I will continue with this for a month or less, then give up completely.

[TacoSmith]

The best thing about twitter is knowing what ?uestlove is doing every second of the day.

[Gilly]

I think I've said it before here, but Facebook and Twitter are what you want to make them to be. It's easy to ignore things you don't like and it's easy to get really involved and figure out the other people who want the same thing. If you can't fall in line with either of those options, social networking probably isn't for you. But, I'm assuming anybody who frequents a forum knows how to filter. I think people just like to complain about popular things.