One of the most common complaints you hear about Twitter is that it's full of information people don't care about or care to know. For every Tweet of value there's probably a thousand you could do without. Do we really need to know someone burned dinner? Probably not. Can I live without knowing someone's dog just messed on the rug? Most definitely.
Most of Twitter is about the mundane. And, I would argue, that's where the base of its power lies. Clay Shirky point out that it's not the Tweet we care about so much but the person behind it. If we care about the person we may want to know they burned dinner, or at least not mind, that they took the time to inform us. It fulfills some hard-wired need most of us have to feel connected to those around us. I end up un-following those I do not care all that much about (it's nothing personal there's only so much of the stuff to go around) and I know folks have un-followed me for the same reason. And that's okay. In fact it's appropriate. New applications such as TweetDeck make it possible for you to filter our folks without the hurting feelings that may come from dropping them. But it does bring up the whole notion of passive agreesive behavior.
Defenders of Twitter are quick to point to out it's shining moments, such as the Iranian protests, as examples of why Twitter matters. I agree with them. Social and mobile technologies have greatly empowered people all over the world and, at least for now, in ways that the powers-that-be are powerless to stop for the most part. But, this is probably less than one percent of why Twitter is so necessary for many of us. It's the everyday updates that sustain Twitter and mean it's available in times of crisis.
Most of Twitter is about the mundane. And, I would argue, that's where the base of its power lies. Clay Shirky point out that it's not the Tweet we care about so much but the person behind it. If we care about the person we may want to know they burned dinner, or at least not mind, that they took the time to inform us. It fulfills some hard-wired need most of us have to feel connected to those around us. I end up un-following those I do not care all that much about (it's nothing personal there's only so much of the stuff to go around) and I know folks have un-followed me for the same reason. And that's okay. In fact it's appropriate. New applications such as TweetDeck make it possible for you to filter our folks without the hurting feelings that may come from dropping them. But it does bring up the whole notion of passive agreesive behavior.
Defenders of Twitter are quick to point to out it's shining moments, such as the Iranian protests, as examples of why Twitter matters. I agree with them. Social and mobile technologies have greatly empowered people all over the world and, at least for now, in ways that the powers-that-be are powerless to stop for the most part. But, this is probably less than one percent of why Twitter is so necessary for many of us. It's the everyday updates that sustain Twitter and mean it's available in times of crisis.
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