There are two types of people: those who adore Twitter, follow it faithfully, and contribute to the chatter (some say information) - AND - those who, if they don't abhore it, shirk from it as a mind and time sink.
These two views are fairly well captured by two writers. On the pro side, David Carr explains Why Twitter Will Endure in the New York Times (Jan 1, 2010). On the con, George Packer of the New Yorker wants to Stop the World (Jan 29) and take a big information break.
David Carr has startling stories about his tweets on an airplane being responded to in person by the airline staff. That's eerie. Tweets seem like crack to him (though he doesn't say that). He claims to get much of what he needs to know professionally and personally through tweets .
George Packer will have none of it - no iPhone, no Blackberry. no Google phone - he does have a laptop he'll use to get email if necessary. To him, "The notion of sending and getting brief updates to and from dozens or thousands of people every few minutes is an image from information hell." It's "crack for media addicts".
Packer wrote a follow-up - Neither Luddite nor Biltonite - because Nick Bilton of the Times pounced on Packer's comments about Twitter. He said - The Twitter Train Has Left the Station
Bilton tells his reasons for using Twitter - and they make sense.
"Hundreds of thousands of people now rely on Twitter every day for their business. Food trucks and restaurants around the world tell patrons about daily food specials. Corporations use the service to handle customer service issues. Starbucks, Dell, Ford, JetBlue and many more companies use Twitter to offer discounts and coupons to their customers. Public relations firms, ad agencies, schools, the State Department — even President Obama — now use Twitter and other social networks to share information."
Then there is use by news media (for sending out headlines), citizen journalism, anyone on the scene - cries for help whether that's Haiti or your local neighbourhood.
But George Packer asks how necessary is all this consumption of instant information and what is the human cost.
"There’s no way for readers to be online, surfing, e-mailing, posting, tweeting, reading tweets, and soon enough doing the thing that will come after Twitter, without paying a high price in available time, attention span, reading comprehension, and experience of the immediately surrounding world."
Therefore, there are two types of people: those who like checking for notes from friends, or sales announcements, or headlines, or want to tweet some brilliant thought or sudden need; and those who consider it a poor use of their time - there are better ways to learn what you need to know and to be with friends.
Posted by Gwen at February 5, 2010 11:13 PM